AFRICAN    SHORES 

OF    THE 

MEDITERRANEAN 


I 

r 


AFRICAN    SHORES 

OF   THE 

MEDITERRANEAN 


BY 

CYRIL   FLETCHER   GRANT 


AND 


L.   GRANT  (L.S.) 

AUTHOR   OF   "UNTRAVELLED   BERKSHIRE' 


NEW   YORK 

McBRIDE,    NAST    &    COMPANY 

1912 


Printed  by  Ballantyne,  Hanson  6^  Co. 
At  the  Ballantyne  Press,  Edinburgh 


PREFACE 

It  is  proverbially  difficult  proprie  communia  dicere,  or 
to  be  original  without  becoming  also  unduly  imagi- 
native ;  and,  although  the  writers  know  of  no  single- 
work  which  covers  the  same  ground  as  the  present 
volume,  whole  literatures  have  sprung  up  round  the 
various  subjects  of  which  they  treat.  They  can  only 
claim  that  they  have  described  no  place  which  they 
did  not  visit,  and  no  custom  which  they  did  not  them- 
selves observe  during  a  protracted  sojourn  in  North 
Africa. 

For  the  facts  which  lie  outside  the  range  of  such 
first-hand  evidence,  they  have  consulted,  so  far  as 
possible,  the  original  authorities.  In  cases  where  the 
opinion  of  a  single  author  has  been  relied  upon,  on  any 
special  point,  a  reference  has  been  given  in  the  text. 

For  the  first  part,  which  is  mainly  historical,  the 
writer,  in  addition  to  the  standard  books  of  reference, 
has  consulted,  especially,  the  following  works,  and 
desires  to  express  his  indebtedness  to  them  : — 

The  Religion  of  the  Semites,  Robertson  Smith,  Chap,  i.-ii. 

The  Religion  of  Ancient  Egypt,  Wiedemann,  Chap.  ii. 

Les  Civilisations  de  I'Afrique  dn  Nord,  Victor  Piquet,  Chap^ 

xiv.-xvi. 
L'Afrique  Romaine,  Gaston  Boissier,  Chap,  vi.,  vii.,  viii. 
L'Algerie,  Maurice  Wahl,  Chap,  xiv.,  xvi. 
Les    Villes   d'Art   Celebres,   Rene   Cagnat    et   Henri    Saladin^ 

Chap,  vi.,  xi.,  xiii. 
Les  Ruines  de  Carthage,  le  R.  P.  Delattre,  Chap.  xi. 
Thugga,  Dr.  Carton,  Chap.  ix. 


S991S0 


vi  PREFACE 

Carthage  ChrHicnne,  Abel  Alcais,  Chap.  x. 

TJhe  Scourge  of  Christendom,  Sir  Lambert  Playfair,  Chap.  xvi. 

The  Barbery  Corsairs,  S.  Lane  Poole,  Chap.  xvi. 

Alger  au  XV I II.  Siecle,  Venture  de  Paradis,  Chap,  xvi.-xvii. 

Sketches  of  Algiers,  W.  Shaler,  Chap.  xvii. 

The  writers*  hearty  thanks  are  also  due  to  those 
•who  have  most  kindly  allowed  them  the  free  use  of 
their  photographs ;  the  illustrations  not  otherwise 
assigned  are  from  photographs  taken  by  the  writers 
themselves. 

In  conclusion,  it  would  be  ungracious  not  to  add 
a  word  of  recognition  of  the  thoroughness  and  skill 
with  which  the  work  of  excavation  is  being  con- 
ducted by  the  French  authorities ;  of  admiration  of 
the  excellent  series  of  monographs  which  they  are 
issuing;  and  of  gratitude  for  the  courtesy  with  which 
the  writers  were  everywhere  received. 


CONTENTS 


PART   I 


I.  The  City  of  Elissar,  850-264  b.c.   . 
II.  The  Gods  of  Carthage     .... 

III.  The  Sword  and  the  Trident,  264-201  b.c, 

IV.  The  Mailed  Fist,   201-146  b.c. 
V.  The  March  of  Empire,  146  b.c.-a.d.  40 

VI.  A  Frontier  Town 

VII.  Country  Life 

VIII.  Life  in  the  Town 

IX.  A  Country  Town 

X.    LACHRYMiE   EcCLESI^,    A.D.    15O-423    . 

XI.  Cadaver  Urbis 

XII.  Res  Ultimo,  a.d.  423-550 

XIII.  A  Byzantine  Fortress     .... 

XIV.  Rassoul  Allah,  a.d.  622-1453 
XV.  An  African  Mecca 

XVI.  The  Crescent  and  the  Cross,  a.d.  1453-1830 
XVII.  The  Lair  of  the  Corsairs       .        .        .        . 


3 

17 
36 
56 
74 
93 
104 
123 

153 
160 

185 
197 

221 

232 

256 

270 
290 


PART   II 

I.  Roknia  and  its  Dolmens 307 

II.  The  Baths  of  the  Accursed 320 

III.  Four  Great  Tombs 332 

IV.  Prophets  of  Islam 348 


viii  CONTENTS 


CHAP. 


V.  FouM  Es  Sahara 360 

VI.  A  Shrine  in  the  Desert 373 

VII.  Sla-el-Kebira 391 

VIII.  TOLGA 39S 

IX.  Death  and  Judgment 413 

X.  "  O  Baal,  hear  us  " 425 

XI.  Caves  and  Dens  of  the  Earth        ....  438 

XII.  Some  Survivals 463 

Index 483 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


The  Mystery  of  the  Desert 

Lehnert  and  Landrock. 

Punic  Graves  in  Byrsa 

Nkurdein  Fk^rks. 


Tanith  (?) 

By  permission  of  the  Rkv,  A.  L.  DelatTRE. 


Temple  of  C(elestis  at  Dougga 

Lkhnert  and  Landrock. 


Old  Ports  of  Carthage 

Garriguks,  by  permission. 

Pretorium  at  Lambessa 

Levy,  Sons  &  Co. 


Arch  of  Trajan,  and  Forum,  Timgad 

By  permission  o/Y.  G.  Nkwmarch. 

Capitols  of  Dougga  and  of  Sbeitla  . 

Lkhnert  and  Landrock. 


Frontispiece 
14 


Cedars  at  Blidah        .... 

Levy,  Sons  &  Co. 

Aqueduct  at  Cherchel 

Arch  of  Caracalla,  Tebessa 

Theatre  at  Dougga  and  Amphitheatre  at  El  Djem 

Lehnert  and  Landrock,  a«rf  Garrigues,  by  permission. 

Rose  of  the  Winds,  Dougga 

Lkhnert  and  Landrock. 


29 

33 

63 

89 

97 

lOI 

105 

106 
125 
139 

157 


X  ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAGB 


Cisterns  at  Carthage  and  Tunis 194 

GakriGUES,  by  permissioti. 

Temple  at  Tebessa 226 

GarRIGUES,  by  permission . 

Monastery  at  Tebessa 228 

Neurdein  Fri^.res. 

The   Four   Perfect    Khalifahs^  at   the    Tomb   of   the 

Prophet 238 

DjAMA  Kebira,  Kairouan 259 

Garkigues,  by  permission. 

DjAMA  Amar  Abbada,  Kairouan 267 

Neurdein  Fr)>res. 

Geronimo .       .    285 

S.  Li%ON,  by  permission. 

Rue  de  Kasbah,  Algiers 298 

Neurdein  Fk£;res. 

Zaouia  of  Sidi  Abd-er-Rahman,  Algiers  ....    301 

Neurdein  Fr^res. 

DjAMA  DjEDiD,  Algiers 302 

Neurdein  Fr£;res. 

Dolmen  and  Tomb  at  Roknia 310 

The  Arab  Wedding,  Hammam  Meskoutine       .        .        .    322 
The  Cascade,  Hammam  Meskoutine 322 

G.  Brinton  Pmi.i.irs,  by  permission . 

The  Cavalier  God  (?) — Stele  of  Abizar    ....    330 

Rev.  F.  L,  Fisher,  by  permission. 

Stelii:  at  Hammam  Meskoutine 33a 

Constantine 334 

Neurdein  Fr^res. 

A  Sunny  Corner .    336 

F.  G.  Nevvmakch,  by  permission. 


ILLUSTRATIONS  xi 


PAGE 


Kbour  Roumia 338 

Geiser. 

House  of  a  Marabout,  Kairouan 340 

Levy,  Sons  &  Co. 

IMarabout  at  Bou  Saada 350 

iA  Marabout 358 

Garrigues,  by  permission. 

In  the  Heat  of  the  Day 361 

F.  G.  Newmarch,  by  permission. 

iGarden  at  Biskra 363 

F.  G.  Newmarch,  by  permission. 

In  a  Palm  Garden 369 

Lehnert  and  Landrock. 

A  Corner  of  Old  Biskra 371 

Lehnert  and  Landrock. 

At  Sidi  Okba .    374 

F.  G.  Newmarch,  by  permission. 

Children  of  the  Desert 386 

Lehnert  and  Landrock. 

A  Street  at  Sidi  Okba 338 

F.  G.  Newmarch,  by  permission. 

The  Great  Prayer:  Rak'a  Giyam — Roukou — Soudjoud     394 
A  Track  in  the  Desert 399 

F.  G.  Newmarch,  by  permission. 

A  Caravan 401 

F.  G.  Newmarch,  by  permission. 


TOLGA 


404 


On  the  Way  from  Tolga 408 

F.  G.  Newmarch,  by  permission. 


xii  ILLUSTRATIONS 


i 


PAGE 

A  Halt  by  the  Way 410 

Garrigues,  hy permission. 

At  Rest 41S 

Lehnert  and  Landrock. 

After  the  Market,  Bou  Saada 43o 

Cheik's  House  at  Matmata 439 

Rhorfas  at  Medinine 447 

Qa^er  at  Metameur 450 

An  Arab  Bir 454 

Lehnert  and  Landrock. 

Camels  with  Halfa 454 

Levy,  Sons  &  Co. 

Marabouts:  El  Hamel  | 

Hammam  R'hiraJ 

Mrs.  A.  G.  Witherby,  hy permission. 

Mechares 466 

Lehnert  and  Landrock. 

Amulets 47^ 

Signs  and  Symbols 47^ 

Map 4S2 


PART    I 


TWIXT    SAND    AND    SEA 

CHAPTER    I 

THE   CITY   OF   ELISSAR,    850-264  b.c. 

It  was  about  ^  the  year  850  B.C.  that  EUssar,  Princess 
of  Sidon,  fled  from  her  native  country,  after  the 
murder  of  her  husband  Sychoeus  ^  by  her  brother 
Pygmalion.  Descended  from  Ethbaal  or  Ithbaal, 
King  of  Sidon,  she  was  the  niece  of  Jezebel  and  the 
cousin  of  Athaliah.  Thus,  a  Wake  or  Dido,  she 
landed  on  the  shores  of  the  Gulf  of  Tunis,  not  far 
from  the  little  Sidonian  port  of  Combe.  Hospitably 
received  by  the  natives  and  their  King,  larbas.  Son 
of  Hammon,  who  subsequently  became  a  suitor  for 
her  hand,  she  repaid  their  kindness  by  tricking  them 
out  of  a  site  for  a  city  on  the  Httle  hill  of  Byrsa.  There 
and  thus  Carthage  was  founded.  At  the  foot  of  the 
hill  she  dug  a  Cothon  or  harbour,  to  which  she  wel- 
comed the  battered  galleys  of  iEneas,  like  herself  a 
wanderer  from  the  flames  of  Troy-town. 

In  the  end,  capta  ac  deserfa,  betrayed  and  forsaken 
by  her  faithless  guest,  she  built  a  great  pyre  outside 
her  palace,  and  cast  herself  despairingly  upon  it  :    so 

^  RoUin  is  more  precise.  He  makes  Elissar  the  granddaughter  of 
Ethbaal,  and  places  the  foundation  of  Carthage  in  the  reign  of  Joash,  King 
of  Judah,  ninety-eight  years  before  Rome  was  founded,  846  B.C. — that  is,  in 
the  year  of  the  world  3158. 

^  Sychoeus,  Sicharbas,  "  Commemoration  of  Baal."  This  is  not  a  divine 
title.  Pygmalion,  according  to  M.  Ph.  Berger,  means,  probably,  "  The 
Foot  of  the  Most  High." 


4  'TWIXT    SAND    AND    SEA 

she  perished,  either  to  bring  upon  the  traitor  the 
doom  he  so  richly  deserved,  or  to  escape  the  impor- 
tunities of  her  unwelcome  suitor,  larbas,  or  to  rejoin 
in  death  her  murdered  husband. 

In  the  light  of  other  kindred  myths  of  the  Semites, 
a  very  profound  and  interesting  interpretation  may 
be  given  to  the  story.  We  are  taught  to  see  in 
the  Queen,  the  Dido  who  accompanies  the  Pilgrim 
Fathers  on  their  way,  and  helps  them  to  build  their 
new  city,  no  mere  woman,  however  exalted,  but  a 
divine  being ;  and  in  her  wiUing  death  the  noble 
self-sacrifice  of  a  goddess,  who  leaps  into  the  flames 
and  dies  to  consecrate  and  win  a  blessing  for  the  city 
she  has  founded.  Thenceforth  she  became  the  Tyche, 
or  Luck,  the  patron  saint  of  the  place  for  which  she 
had  died  ;  and,  in  the  yearly  offering  of  a  maiden  at 
her  shrine,  her  death  was  commemorated  and  mysti- 
cally renewed.  What  awful  act  of  sacrifice  or  self- 
sacrifice  may  lie  behind  the  myth  we  cannot  tell  ; 
similar  rites  were  practised  at  Tarsus  ;  and,  in  the 
stories  of  Hercules  Melcarth  and  Sardanapalus,  traces 
of  a  kindred  legend  may  be  found.  Certainly  the  idea 
of  a  God  who  so  loves  His  people  that  He  freely  pours 
out  His  soul  even  unto  death  for  the  sake  of  those  He 
loves  was  familiar  to  Semitic  thought  long  before  its 
perfect  fulfilment. 

Who,  then,  was  Elissar  ?  The  answer,  up  to  a 
certain  point,  is  tolerably  plain.  Both  Ehssar  and 
Pygmalion    were  apparently    titles    of    Ashtart,^   the 

^  On  many  Tyrian  coins  Ashtart  is  represented,  like  the  Victory  of 
Samothrace,  standing  in  the  prow  of  a  ship,  her  right  hand  outstretched  as 
if  to  point  the  way,  and  holding  a  crown.  M.  Ph.  Berger  writes,  un- 
hesitatingly (Zi?  Mythe  de  Pygmalion^  p.  3),  "  Dido  is  one  of  the  forms  of  the 
great  Asiatic  Goddess."  He  has  also  read  the  name  "  Ashtart  Pygmalion  " 
on  a  gold  dish  of  the  sixth  century  B.C.  found  at  the  cemetery  oi Doicimes  at 
Carthage. 


THE   CITY    OF   ELISSAR  5 

biblical  Ashtoreth/  goddess  of  the  Sidonians.  To 
identify  her  with  Tanith,  the  supreme  divinity  of 
Carthage,  attractive  as  it  would  be,  is  difficult  ; 
for,  as  will  be  shown  later  on,  Tanith  was,  in  all  pro- 
bability, a  Libyan,  not  a  Phoenician,  goddess  ;  but 
various  hints,  such  as  that  of  Justin,  that  her  pyre 
was  built  "  at  the  end  of  the  town  " — that  is,  of  Byrsa, 
the  city  of  Elissar — would  suit  an  identification  of 
the  Temple  of  Dido,  and  the  scene  of  her  death,  with 
the  Sanctuary  of  Tanith,  which  stood  somewhere 
between  Byrsa  and  the  sea.  Here  it  was  that,  in 
later  days,  the  human  sacrifices  of  the  Carthaginians 
were  offered  to  the  goddess ;  and  even  so  late  as  the 
fourth  century  of  our  era,  the  spot,  enclosed  in  a 
thicket  of  thorns,  and  inhabited,  so  it  was  said,  by 
asps  and  dragons,  was  surrounded  with  superstitious 
terrors.^  It  was  even  found  necessary  to  destroy  a 
Christian  church  erected  on  the  spot,  or  into  which 
the  temple  itself  had  possibly  been  transformed,  in 
order  to  put  an  end  to  the  polluted  rites  of  which  it 
had  been  so  long  the  abode.  Perhaps  it  would  be 
safer  to  say  that,  as  the  Phoenician  settlers,  and  their 
worship,  became  Libyanised,  the  worship  of  Elissar 
Ashtart  paled  before,  and  at  last  was  supplanted  by, 
that  of  the  Libyan  goddess. 

Such,  at  any  rate,  is  the  legend  in  its  best-known 
form,  and  the  best  interpretation  which  can,  at  pre- 
sent, be  placed  upon  it.  The  story  of  the  bull's 
hide  which  Elissar  cut  into  strips  to  measure  her 
grant  of  land  with,  may  be  at  once  put  aside.  It 
arose  merely  from  an  accidental  similarity  of  sound 
between  the  Greek  word  for  an  ox-hide  and  the 
Phoenician  word  for  a  fortress,  Byrsa,  or  Birtha,  the 

^  That  is,  Ashtart,  with  the  vowels  of  Bosheth,  "  Abomination." 
*  Stl.  Ital,  1.  81. 


6  'TWIXT   SAND    AND    SEA 

biblical  Bozrah.  Apart  from  its  decorative  details,  the 
fable  is  valuable  merely  as  a  testimony  to  Phoenician 
trade  methods  and  the  inventive  faculty  of  the  Greeks ; 
while,  in  order  to  bring  EHssar  and  iEneas  together, 
Vergil  was  compelled  to  do  that  which,  we  are  told,  hes 
beyond  the  power  of  the  very  gods  themselves,  and 

"annihilate  both  time  and  space 
To  make  two  lovers  " 

unhappy. 

That  Carthage  was  Phoenician  in  origin,  its  name 
Karthhadach,^  the  New  City,  or  Naples— the  Greek 
Karchedon  and  the  Latin  Karthago — tells  us  plainly 
enough.  It  shows  also  that  it  was  not  the  first  of 
these  settlements ;  it  was  new  in  comparison  to 
Utica,  Outich,  the  Old  City,  which  lay  to  the  north- 
west across  the  marshy  plain  and  Sebka,  which  were 
then  the  Gulf  of  Utica ;  new  in  comparison  with 
Tunis  (Tunes)  at  the  head  of  its  lake,  or  with  Combe, 
which  stood  near,  if  not  on  the  very  site  where  Carthage  " 
was  built.  The  precise  relation  of  the  New  to  the 
Old  City  is  doubtful ;  on  the  whole,  it  seems  probable 
that  Carthage  was  not  an  offshoot  or  dependency  of 
the  Tyrian  Utica,  but  rather  a  Sidonian  city  founded 
in  rivalry  with  it.  At  any  rate  it  was  content, 
until  450  B.C.,  to  pay  a  rent  for  the  ground  on 
which  it  stood  to  the  Berber  tribe  of  the  Maxyes. 

We  are  so  accustomed  to  speak  of  the  inhabitants 
as  Carthaginians  or  Phoenicians  or  Poeni,  that  it  is 
difficult  to  realise  that  the  name  by  which  they  called 
themselves  was  none  of  these,  but  "  Canaanite,"  a 
man  of  the  plains,  a  Lowlander.  The  Greeks  gave 
the  country  from  which  they  came  the  name  of 
Phoenike,  the  Land  of  Purple,  or  of  the  Red  Men  ;  the 
Romans  corrupted  the  name  into  Poeni  or  Punians  ; 

^  Karth,  akin  to  the  biblical  kirjath. 


THE   CITY    OF   ELISSAR  7 

but   even   so  late   as  in   Christian  times  an  African 
farmer  would  call  himself  a  Canaanite. 

The  site  of  the  new  city  was  well  chosen.^ 

Low  down  on  the  Gulf  of  Tunis,  sheltered  from 
every  wind  that  blows  except  the  north-east,  from 
which  a  little  bay  and  a  great  breakwater  protected 
the  entrance  to  the  harbours,  an  isthmus,  ending  in 
a  triangular  or  fan-shaped  peninsula,  juts  out  some 
ten  miles  into  the  sea.  On  the  south  it  is  washed  by 
the  shallow  waters  of  the  Lake  of  Tunis  ;  on  the 
north  by  what  is  now  the  Salt  Lake  or  Lagoon,  called 
the  Sebka  er  Riana,  but  which  was  then  the  open 
Gulf  of  Utica,  where  the  great  river  Medjerda,  or 
Bagradas,  emptied  its  sullen  waters  into  the  sea.  The 
river  has  now  changed  its  course,  and  vast  banks  of 
sand  have  collected,  changing  the  gulf  into  a  lake. 

From  the  head  of  the  Lake  of  Tunis  to  the  Gulf  of 
Utica  runs  the  protecting  mountain  range  of  the 
Djebel  Ahmor,  a  formidable  barrier  between  the 
isthmus  and  the  mainland ;  somewhere  in  these 
mountains  lay  the  cave  into  which,  on  the  fatal 
hunting  day,  Juno  Pronuba  led  Ehssar  and  the  Dux 
Trojanus  to  shelter  from  the  storm,  while  the  nymphs 
shrieked  upon  the  hill-tops.  It  was  the  day  which 
began  the  long  enmity  between  Carthage  and  Rome 
which  was  to  end  only  when  Scipio  wiped  the  great 
city  of  Elissar  off  the  face  of  the  earth. 

At  its  mountain  base  the  isthmus  has  a  width  of 
nearly  ten  miles,  but  it  soon  shrinks  to  little  more 
than  two  ;  then  it  spreads  out  again  in  long  even 
curves  into  the  fan-shaped  peninsula  already  spoken 

*  With  his  characteristic  love  of  legend,  or,  as  we  should  call  it,  folk-lore, 
Vergil  tells  us  {Aen.  i.  444),  that  Juno,  or  Ashtart,  or  Tanith,  commanded 
Elissar  to  build  on  the  spot  where  she  should  find  a  horse's  head.  The 
place  was  marked  by  a  sacred  grove. 


S  'TWIXT   SAND    AND   SEA 

•of,  where  it  has  a  breadth  of  six  miles.  The  northern 
point  of  the  open  fan  is  occupied  by  the  hills  of 
Kamart  ;  the  southern  by  the  narrow  neck  of  land 
called  the  Ligula  or  Toenia/  which,  hke  Chesil  Beach 
or  the  Palisades  of  Kingston  Harbour,  shuts  in,  save 
for  a  narrow  break  in  the  middle,  the  Lake  of  Tunis. 
From  the  Ligula  the  shore  line  runs  due  north-east 
for  a  distance  of  about  four  miles,  where  it  ends  in 
Cape  Carthage,  the  central  point  of  the  fan.  For  the 
first  two  and  a  half  miles  the  shore  is  fiat,  then  it 
rises  rapidly  into  the  hill  now  crowned  with  the  New 
Fort,  Bordj  el  Djedid,  and  then,  higher  still,  into  the 
rocky  headland  of  the  cape  where  stood  the  old 
Pharos,  and  now  stands  the  lighthouse. 

The  trend  of  the  northern  shore  is  very  similar, 
only,  of  course,  in  opposite  directions.  A  long  curve 
to  the  north-east  ends  in  the  heights  of  the  Djebel 
Khaoui  or  Kamart,  corresponding  to  the  Ligula  to 
the  south.  Then,  turning  to  the  south-east,  the 
coast  runs  to  Cape  Carthage.  This  section  of  the 
coast  is  mountainous,  save  for  a  single  dip  at  La 
Marsa  close  under  the  cape.^  On  this  great  triangle 
of  land  stood  Carthage. 

The  beginnings  of  the  city  were,  however,  much 
more  modest.  We  can  trace  them,  with  some  degree 
of  accuracy,  by  the  position  of  the  cemeteries,  of 
which  the  sides  of  the  hills  are  full ;  for  by  the  Semites, 
as  by  the  Romans,  the  dead  were  considered  unclean, 
and  could  not  be  buried  within  the  walls  of  the  city. 

1  Now  called  La  Goulette. 

*  The  distances  are,  approximately,  as  follows : — 

Cape  Carthage  to  Kamart 4  miles 

Cape  Carthage  to  the  Ligula  .  .  .  ,  .4  miles 
Across  the  isthmus  from  Kamart  to  the  Ligula  .  .  6  miles 
Cape  Carthage  to  a  point  on  the  centre  of  this  line 

across  the  isthmus i  mile 


i 


THE    CITY    OF    ELISSAR  9 

In  this  way  we  learn  that  the  earliest  settlement 
was  not  on  Byrsa  at  all,  but  on  the  seashore  just  out- 
side the  Ligula,  where,  afterwards,  the  great  harbours 
were  excavated.  Here  the  coast,  turning  abruptly 
to  the  east,  forms  a  little  sheltered  bay,  well  fitted  to 
be  the  harbour  of  the  first  inhabitants,  as  it  was  to 
be  the  entrance  to  the  harbours  in  later  days.  About 
a  mile  due  north  of  this  bay,  nearly  the  same  distance 
from  Bordj  el  Djedid,  and  about  half  a  mile  from  the 
sea,  stands  the  hill  of  Byrsa  ;  on  the  land  side  it  rises 
up,  by  a  steep  ascent,  to  a  height  of  about  two  hundred 
feet ;  on  the  other  it  drops  precipitously  towards 
the  sea.  With  the  exception  of  the  AcropoUs  of 
Athens  and  the  Capitol  of  Rome,  it  is  perhaps  the 
most  famous  hill  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  When 
first  included  within  the  bounds  of  the  city,  it  was, 
as  its  name  imphes,  a  fortress  or  kasbah ;  in  course 
of  time,  when  tyranny  at  home  was  more  feared  than 
attack  from  abroad,  it  was  consecrated  to  rehgious 
uses,  and  became,  like  the  other  two,  the  central 
shrine  of  the  national  worship. 

Two  lines  drawn  from  Byrsa — the  one  south,  to 
the  Ligula,  the  other  east,  to  the  seashore,  south  of 
Bordj  el  Djedid — would  enclose  the  site  of  the  city 
proper,  which  was  to  greater  Carthage  what  the  City 
is  to  greater  London.  Within  its  walls  were  contained 
the  great  Temple  of  Eschmoun,  the  cathedral  of  Car- 
thage, which  stood  on  the  hill  of  Byrsa  itself  ;  the 
less  officially  important,  but  more  popular.  Temples  of 
Hammon  and  Tanith ;  the  naval  harbour  or  Cothon, 
opening  into  the  commercial  harbour,  and,  through  it, 
reaching  the  sea  ;  the  long  line  of  quays  which  reached 
from  the  Ligula  to  Bordj  el  Djedid,  and  the  Forum, 
which  was  at  once  the  market,  the  Royal  Exchange, 
the  Law  Courts  and  the  Guild  Hall  of  the  city. 


10  'TWIXT   SAND    AND    SEA 

Punic  in  origin,  Carthage  remained,  so  far  as  the 
government  was  concerned,  Punic  to  the  end.  Its 
constitution  was  a  narrow  and  rigid  oHgarchy,  from 
which  all  but  the  old  Punic  families  were  jealously 
excluded.  There  was  no  extension  of  the  franchise 
or  citizenship,  such  as,  from  time  to  time,  replenished 
the  ranks  of  the  RepubHc  of  Rome,  offered  a  reward 
to  capacity  and  service,  and  repaid  or  secured  the 
fidelity  of  the  cities  of  the  Empire. 

The  bulwark  of  this  oligarchy  was  the  council  of 
one  hundred,  actually  one  hundred  and  four,  of  which 
the  magistrates  or  "  Suffetes  "  ^  were  little  more  than 
the  officials.  As  these  offices  were  for  sale,  it  became 
practically  a  government  of  capitalists,  in  which  the 
great  families,  Magon,  Giscon,  or  Barcas,  could  obtain 
from  time  to  time  a  predominant  influence.  Decayed 
grandees  were  enabled  to  retrieve  their  fortunes  from 
the  spoils  of  lucrative  ofiices,  such  as  those  of  tax- 
collectors. 

Thus  the  oligarchy  degenerated  into  a  plutocracy, 
vulgar,  ostentatious,  self-indulgent,  and  heartless.  The 
story  of  the  contemptuous  amusement  with  which  the 
Carthaginians  received  the  report  of  their  ambassadors, 
that  the  whole  Senate  of  Rome  possessed  only  one 
service  of  silver  plate,  which  reappeared  at  every 
dinner-party  they  were  invited  to,  sufficiently  describes 
them. 

As  with  the  equally  vulgar  nobles  of  the  Roman 
Empire,  it  was  the  fashion  to  collect  works  of  art, 
and,  as  it  was  easy  to  employ  Greek  artists,  or  to 
steal  original  statues,  &c.,  ready  made,  from  Greece  or 
Sicily,  the  Carthaginian  millionaires  filled  their  palaces 
with  works  of  Greek  art  ;  thus  setting  an  example 
which,  in  due  time,  the  Romans  followed,  when,  in 

*  Shafetes,  or  Shophetim,  the  judges. 


THE    CITY    OF    ELISSAR  ii 

their  turn,  they  looted  Carthage.  Of  their  Archi- 
tecture it  is  difficult  to  judge,  save  from  the  tombs  ; 
these  are  for  the  most  part  strongly  influenced  by 
Greece  and  Egypt. ^ 

On  the  other  hand,  they  possessed  and  developed 
in  a  high  degree  the  vSemitic  aptitude  for  banking 
and  business  generally,  which  has  made  the  Jews  the 
financiers  of  the  world.  It  is  said  that  they  used 
paper  money,  of  no  intrinsic  value,  in  the  same  way 
that  bank  notes  and  cheques  are  used  now. 

They  have  left  no  traces  of  any  natural  science,  or 
art,  or  literature,  save  on  the  one  subject  of  agriculture. 
They  possessed  no  growing  or  spreading  aptitude  for 
political  life,  and  they  showed  no  desire  for  free  forms 
of  government. 

The  Carthaginians  had  no  lust  for  empire,  save 
that  of  the  sea,  and  of  the  ports  and  markets  which 
were  necessary  to  secure  and  develop  their  trade. 
They  never  fought  if  they  could  help  it.  Though 
capable  of  spasmodic  outbursts  of  desperate  valour, 
they  allowed  themselves  to  be  supplanted  in  Egypt, 
Greece,  Italy,  and  East  Sicily  almost  without  a 
struggle ;  in  the  great  trade  war  with  Greece  it  was 
their  allies,  the  Etruscans,  who  did  most  of  the 
fighting  at  Cumae  (280  B.C.)  and  Alatia  (217  B.C.). 
They  lived  in  Africa  "  after  the  manner  of  the 
Zidonians "  in  their  old  land,  "  quiet  and  secure " 
in  "a  place  where  there  is  no  want  of  anything 
that  is  on  the  earth."  ^ 

As  the  city  grew  in  power,  wealth,  and  population, 
the  necessity  for  some  territory  was  increasingly  felt, 
and  they  pressed  forward  gradually,  submerging  the 
various  cities  which  came  in  their   way,   destroying 

^  C/.  the  chapter  on  "  Four  Great  Tombs." 
^  Judges  xviii.  lo. 


12  TWIXT   SAND    AND   SEA 

their  walls  (except  in  the  case  of  Utica),  and  imposing 
on  them  a  tribute  of  money  or  of  men.  Thus  Leptis 
Parva/  south  of  Sousse,  was  assessed  at  365  talents 
(£90,000)  a  year. 

By  degrees  they  advanced  in  this  tentative  way, 
until  they  occupied,  more  or  less  completely,  a  territory 
corresponding  fairly  with  modern  Tunisia  and  the  de- 
partment of  Constantine.  The  Libyan  fortress  of 
Tebessa  was  not  captured  until  the  time  of  the  First 
Punic  War.^  Even  within  these  limits  it  was  fre- 
quently a  matter  of  alliance  rather  than  of  conquest. 
The  famous  inscription  from  the  mausoleum  at  Dougga  ' 
to  Ataban,  son  of  Ifmatel,  son  of  Falao,  is  in  Libyan 
as  well  as  Phoenician,  and  records  an  intermarriage 
between  the  two  peoples  ;  and  the  other  similar  monu- 
ments at  Kasserine,  and  Kroubs  (near  Cirta),  and 
elsewhere,  show  that  it  was  by  alliance  with  the  native 
princes,  rather  than  by  war,  that  they  preferred  to 
spread  their  sphere  of  influence,  and  obtained  per- 
mission to  estabhsh  settlements  and  markets.  It  was 
in  this  way  that  they  were  able  to  recruit  their  armies 
from  among  a  warlike  but,  on  the  whole,  friendly 
population.  Such  privileges  as  these  were  all  that 
the  Poeni  required,  and  for  these  they  were  ready,  if 
need  were,  to  pay  tribute. 

This  principle  of  alliance,  rather  than  conquest, 
was  carried  so  far  that  when,  at  the  time  of  the  wars 
with  Rome,  Cirta  was  taken  from  its  rightful  King, 
Masinissa,  it  was  not  seized  by  Carthage,  but  left  in 
the  hands  of  Syphax,  King  of  Massesylia,*  whose 
alliance  was  purchased  with  the  hand  of  Sophonisba. 
The  territory  actually  belonging  to  Carthage,  or 
Africa,   consisted  of  Uttle   more   than   the   corner  of 

*  Now  Lamta.         *  Polyb.  i.  7^.         '  Now  in  the  British  Museum. 
*  His  capital  was  at  Siga,  west  of  Oran. 


1 


THE    CITY    OF    ELISSAR  13 

land  between  Thabraka  (Tabarca)  to  the  west  and 
Taparura  (Sfax)  to  the  south  ;  and  this  was  all  that 
the  Romans  annexed,  under  the  name  of  "  Provincia 
Africa."  The  land  thus  occupied  was,  for  the  most 
part,  divided  into  vast  estates  and  worked  by  slaves, 
a  single  owner  possessing  sometimes  as  many  as 
twenty  thousand  ;  the  native  farmers  and  peasantry, 
when  not  altogether  dispossessed,  were  reduced  to 
the  position  of  serfs  or  felahin,  and  paid  a  rent  of 
one  quarter  of  the  produce  of  the  land.  Under  these 
conditions,  agriculture  became  exceedingly  scientific, 
and  the  treatise  on  the  subject  by  the  Carthaginian 
Magon  remained  long  a  text-book  among  the  Romans. 

Of  this  city  of  Elissar,  the  Romans  did  not  leave 
one  stone  upon  another  ;  two  little  ponds  mark  the 
site  of  the  harbours,  the  immense  systems  of  cisterns 
at  La  Malga,  near  Bordj  el  Djedid  and  elsewhere,  though 
remodelled  by  the  Romans,  were  probably  Punic  in 
origin  ;  a  fragment  or  two  of  wall  in  Byrsa  possibly 
belong  to  the  Punic  fortifications  ;  a  number  of  votive 
tablets  witness  to  the  faith  of  the  people  ;  beyond  this 
there  is  nothing  save  a  grim  layer  of  ashes  mixed  ^  with 
bones  of  men,  women,  and  children,  and  the  graves  of 
the  dead. 

As  it  is  from  these  cemeteries  that  we  can  trace 
the  position  of  the  earliest  settlement  and  the  gradual 
growth  of  the  city,  so  it  is  from  their  contents  and 
from  the  manner  in  which  the  dead  were  laid  in  them 
that  we  learn  what  little  is  known  of  the  life  of  the 
inhabitants  of  the  city. 

The  sides  of  all  the  hills  are  full  of  tombs,  some 
reaching  back  to  the  seventh  century  before  Christ, 
while  others  date  from  the  times  of  the  Punic  Wars. 

In  the  earliest  of  the  cemeteries,  which  he  nearest 

*  This  layer  is  about  five  feet  thick. 


14  'TWIXT   SAND    AND    SEA 

the  sea,  the  dead  were  laid  in  the  ground  without 
coffin  or  covering  of  any  kind  ;  but  later  on  a  different 
and  very  elaborate  system  of  burial  was  adopted.  A 
vertical  shaft  was  sunk  into  the  ground  or  rock  to  a 
depth  of  about  thirty  feet,  large  enough  to  allow  of 
the  body  being  lowered  on  a  Utter  or  bier.  At  the 
bottom,  lateral  chambers  were  excavated  ;  the  walls 
were  covered  with  stucco,  so  fine  and  white  as  to 
glisten  like  snow  in  the  lamplight,  and  so  close  in 
texture  as  to  ring  like  metal  when  struck.  Above 
the  stucco  ran  a  cornice  of  cedar  supporting  a  ceiling 
of  the  same  wood.  The  whole  was  roofed  in  with 
great  slabs  of  stone,  the  weight  of  the  earth  above 
being  borne  by  other  stones  inclined  one  against  the 
other,  and  forming  the  curious  triangles  which  are 
so  distinctive  of  these  sepulchres.  The  entrance  was 
blocked  with  a  great  stone,  and  finally  the  shaft  was 
filled  up  with  earth.  In  these  chambers  the  dead, 
decked  out  sumptuously,  were  laid  on  beds,  facing 
the  entrance ;  they  were  surrounded,  not  by  any 
dismal  funeral  trappings,  but  by  lamps,  vases  of 
perfumes,  and  other  famihar  household  furniture,  so 
that,  when  they  awoke  from  their  sleep,^  they  might 
find  themselves  at  home  with  all  the  gear  and  housing 
of  their  earthly  lives  around  them. 

Later  still  a  fresh  modification  was  adopted  ;  the 
body  was  laid  in  a  stone  sarcophagus  and  sealed  up 
with  resin.  On  the  lid  was  carved  a  recumbent  image 
of  the  dead,  sometimes  of  great  dignity  and  beauty. 
Of  these  effigies  the  most  noticeable  is  that  of  Tanith, 
or  the  "  priestess,"  hereafter  to  be  described.^    Another 

^  Perhaps  it  would  be  more  accurate  to  say,  in  accordance  with  Egyptian 
beliefs,  "  when  the  spirit  revisited  the  body."  Pap.  iii.  36,  in  the  Louvre, 
shows  the  winged  soul  descending  just  such  a  shaft  to  reach  the  mummy. 

*   Vide  p.  29. 


''*^  ■■'■'% 


i!l 


THE   CITY    OF    ELISSAR  15 

represents  a  Rab,  or  priest.  In  this  the  features  are 
grandly  calm  and  dignified,  the  hair  abundant  and 
curly,  the  beard  and  moustaches  full.  A  long  robe 
descends  to  the  sandalled  feet  ;  over  this  a  short 
cloak  falls  from  the  left  shoulder  to  the  hip.  The 
right  hand  is  uplifted  in  prayer ;  the  left,  bent  at  the 
elbow,  holds  a  vase  of  offerings. 

A  third  is  of  a  lady.  The  hair  stands  high  over  the 
forehead  and  is  brought  down  on  each  side  of  the  face 
in  two  long  plaits  or  curls.  The  whole  body  is  clothed 
in  a  soft  robe,  gathered  in  loosely  at  the  waist  and 
falling  in  graceful  folds  to  the  sandalled  feet.  Over 
the  head  is  drawn  a  long  veil ;  it  is  held  by  the  right 
hand,  which  is  thrown  boldly  forward,  while  the  left 
hand  draws  it  easily  across  the  body.  The  figure 
is  very  Greek  in  conception  ;  except  for  the  position 
of  the  right  hand,  it  follows  closely  the  lines  of  the 
Greek  funeral  monuments,  a  very  lovely  example  of 
which  is  in  the  Vatican  Museum,  under  the  name  of 
"  Pudicitia." 

Besides  these  carvings,  there  have  been  found  in 
these  tombs  a  series  of  terra-cotta  masks,  so  skilfully 
modelled  and  so  characteristic  as  to  require  a  word  of 
notice.  Some  of  them  are  mere  grotesques,  admirably 
conceived  and  executed  ;  these  were  placed  near  the 
dead  to  frighten  away  evil  spirits  by  their  grimaces. 
Others,  equally  skilful,  are  more  interesting  in  that 
they  seem  to  be  likenesses  of  real  men  and  women. 
These  are  distinguished  by  wearing  a  metal  ring,  the 
biblical  "  Nezem,"  piercing  through  the  central  carti- 
lage of  the  nose. 

The  first  is  a  man.  The  face  is  a  long  oval,  the 
forehead  high,  and  the  hair,  short  and  curly,  grows 
low  upon  it  ;  the  ears,  large  and  projecting,  are 
pierced   for   earrings.     The   upper   lip   and   chin   are 


i6  TWIXT   SAND    AND    SEA 

clean-shaven^  but  the  cheeks  are  covered  with  bushy 
whiskers,  descending  to  the  jaw.  The  cheek-bones 
are  high,  the  nose  long,  straight  and  pointed.  The 
eyes  and  mouth  are  drawn  up  at  the  corners,  giving 
a  shrewd,  humorous  expression  to  the  countenance. 
Altogether  the  whole  face  is  pleasant  and  life-like. 

The  only  other  mask  I  need  speak  of  is  that  of  a 
woman.  It  is  curiously  different  from  the  first.  A 
snood,  like  an  Egyptian  Klaft,  covers  all  the  hair 
except  a  little  fringe  of  curls  over  the  forehead,  and  is 
drawn  down  behind  the  ears  over  the  breast.  The 
ears  are  large  and  pierced  for  five  rings,  two  in  the 
lobe  and  three  in  the  upper  fold.  The  nose  is  very 
heavy  and  bulbous,  the  eyes  large  and  drawn  upwards 
as  in  the  other  case  ;  the  chin  small  and  receding, 
the  mouth  small  and  drawn  up  in  a  smile.  The  whole 
expression  is  so  kindly  that  the  ugliness  of  the  nose 
and  ears  is  forgotten. 

Such,  then,  were  the  great  lords,  the  Hasdrubals 
and  Hamilcars  of  Carthage  ;  such  her  mariners  who 
wandered  over  the  seas  as  far  as  Britain  ;  and  such 
the  home-staying  folk,  the  mothers  and  wives  who 
welcomed  the  sailors  when  the  voyage  was  over. 


CHAPTER    II 

THE   GODS   OF   CARTHAGE 

The  religion  of  the  Carthaginians  was  elementary  in 
its  conceptions,  and  tended  to  foster  rather  than  to 
restrain  the  elementary  instincts  of  lust  and  cruelty. 
The  names  and  attributes  of  the  principal  gods  are 
not  difficult  to  ascertain,  but  the  source  of  the  religion 
is  still  doubtful  and  obscure. 

The  official  god  was  Eschmoun,  a  god  of  vital 
force,  whom  the  Greeks  identified  with  Asclepios,  and 
the  Romans  with  their  god  of  healing,  iEsculapius. 
His  chief  sanctuary  was  a  vast  enclosure,  half-fortress, 
half-temple,  on  the  eastern  brow  of  Byrsa,  from  which 
a  monumental  flight  of  sixty  marble  steps  led  down 
into  the  city.  His  worship  was  always  purely  and 
essentially  Phoenician — in  fact,  from  a  natural  ex- 
clusiveness  and  pride  of  race,  the  Poeni  do  not  seem 
to  have  identified  him  with  any  local  deity,  or  to  have 
spread  his  cult  beyond  a  few  purely  Carthaginian 
settlements.  Even  at  Lambsesis  (Lambessa),  where 
there  was  a  temple  to  iEsculapius,  which  in  general 
form  and  arrangement  was  Libyan  rather  than 
Roman,  the  presence  of  hot  springs  suggests  that  it 
was  dedicated  to  the  Roman,  not  to  the  Punic  god. 

But  even  in  Carthage  itself,  with  its  seven  hundred 
thousand  inhabitants,  the  pure-blooded  Phoenicians 
formed  but  a  small  part  of  the  population.  The 
bulk  of  the  people  consisted  of  half-castes,  slaves,  and 
traders  of  all  races,  and,  above  all,  of  native  Libyans  ; 
the  position  of  the  Poeni  resembled  that  of  the  English 

''  B 


i8  TWIXT   SAND    AND    SEA 

at  Shanghai,  or  Cairo,  or  Calcutta.  The  common 
language  of  the  people  was  Libyan  ;  among  the 
five  hundred  skulls  which  have  been  measured  by 
Dr.  Bertholon,  he  assures  us  that  hardly  any  were 
Phoenician,  and,  according  to  the  same  authority,  the 
funeral  customs  of  burying  the  dead  in  a  crouching 
position,  of  dispersing  the  bones,  and  of  laying  the 
dead  to  rest  in  an  earthenware  crate,  which  he  has 
observed  in  the  native  cemeteries  at  Carthage,  were 
Libyan.^  There  would  therefore  be  nothing  surpris- 
ing if  the  same  were  true  of  religion,  and  if  the  gods 
most  generally  worshipped  were  Libyan  also,  or  at  least 
Libyan  in  reality,  though  roughly  and  vaguely  identified 
with  the  gods  of  Phoenicia  first,  as  of  Rome  afterwards. 

Interesting  as  are  such  inquiries  into  the  origins 
of  religion,  we  must  remember  that  problems  and 
questions  which  perplex  us  hardly  existed  in  the  dim 
antiquity  in  which  we  are  groping.  So  long  as  religion 
had  hardly  emerged  from  the  simple  personification 
and  worship  of  the  powers  of  nature,  two  races  wor- 
shipping the  same  natural  object  or  force  would 
probably  use  very  similar  rites,  and,  when  they  came 
into  contact  with  one  another,  would  find  little  diffi- 
culty in  recognising  the  same  divinity  under  different 
names  ;  each  could  say  to  the  other,  "  Whom  there- 
fore ye  ignorantly  worship.  Him  declare  I  unto  you." 

There  were  two  gods  who  especially  claimed  the 
allegiance  of  Carthage,  Hammon,  or,  as  he  is  usually 
called,  Baal  Hammon,  and  Tanith ;  and  it  is  worthy 
of  notice  that  whereas  the  worship  of  Eschmoun 
practically  vanished  with  Punic  Carthage,  the  cult  of 
these  two  not  only  survived  the  destruction   of   the 

'  Similar  burials  are  found  at  El  Keb  Nakada  and  elsewhere  in  Egypt. 
Cf.  The  Nile  (Budge),  pp.  71  and  435,  and  De  Morgan's  Recherchcs  siir  les 
Origines  de  PEgypte.     Cf.  Bertholon's  Religion  des  Libyens,  pp.  3-6. 


THE    GODS    OF    CARTHAGE  19 

city  by  the  Romans,  but,  under  the  names  of  Saturn 
and  Coelestis  or  Ceres,  was  adopted,  developed,  and 
spread  far  and  wide  by  the  new  conquerors. 

BAAL    HAMMON 

The  title  Baal  is  certainly  Phoenician,  but,  although 
the  tendency  of  Phoenician  religious  thought  was 
undoubtedly  to  personify  the  attributes  of  Baal,  the 
word  itself  is  not  a  name,  but  a  title,  and  means  little 
more  than  '^  lord  "  or  ^'  owner."  The  citizens  of  a  town 
were  its  baalim ;  if  a  man  irrigated  a  plot  of  ground 
and  so  became  its  owner,  he  was  its  haal ;  in  the  case 
of  an  oasis,  or  other  land  fertilised  by  natural  sources, 
this  was  conceived  of  as  the  work  of  a  god,  who  became 
its  haal.  Conspicuous  hill-tops  were  specially  fitted 
for  the  burning  of  victims,  and  so  became  by  degrees 
sanctuaries  of  the  haal  to  whom  such  sacrifices  were 
offered.^  The  title  haal^  therefore,  tells  us  little  except 
that  the  Carthaginians  adopted  into  their  pantheon 
the  god  to  whom  it  was  applied,  and  gave  him  their 
title  of  honour. 

The  meaning  and  origin  of  the  name  Hammon  (or 
Khammon)  is  a  matter  of  much  greater  difficulty  and 
uncertainty.  If  Phoenician,  it  may  mean  "  The  Shin- 
ing One,"  or  "  The  Sun  Pillar,"  though,  according  to 
Semitic  use,  it  would  be  more  natural  to  take  it  as 
the  name  of  a  place  than  of  a  divinity.  But  it  is  not 
at  all  necessary  to  look  to  Phoenician  sources  for  the 
origin  of  the  name  or  of  the  god.  Even  if  we  are 
unable  to  accept  Dr.  Bertholon's  derivation  of  A-moun, 
^*  The  Moun,"  it  is  both  simpler  and  better  to  turn  to 
Libyan  and  Egyptian  than  to  Phoenician  worship.     H 

*  Thus  in  the  Bible  we  find  Baal-Peor,  Numbers  xxv.  3,  and  generally 
the  "high  places"  of  Baal.  For  many  of  these  details  the  writer  is  indebted 
to  The  Religion  of  the  Semites. 


20  TWIXT    SAND    AND    SEA 

we  do  so  we  may  identify  him  with  the  Hamon  wor- 
shipped at  Thebes  in  union  with  Mut  and  Khonsu, 
at  Sais  with  Neith  and  Khonsu,  at  Hehopohs  as 
Amon-Ra,  and  especially  with  the  Ammon  whose 
shrine  and  oracle  lay  in  the  oasis  of  Siwa,  three 
hundred  and  fifty  miles  south-west  of  Cairo.  There 
he  was  worshipped  not  only  under  the  Egyptian  form 
of  a  ram,  but  also  in  connection  with  a  sacred  stone, 
to  which  it  is  impossible  to  ascribe  an  Egyptian  origin, 
though  it  naturally  suggests  the  Artemis  of  the 
Ephesians,  the  Astart  of  Paphos,  and  the  Bethels,  or 
Betyls,  which  were  such  important  objects  of  adora- 
tion to  the  Semites,  that  their  worship  was  carried 
wherever  Semitic  colonists  penetrated. 

As  a  close  connection  always  existed  between  the 
oasis  and  the  Phoenician  colonies  of  North  Africa,  we 
may  well  find  here  the  link  between  Semitic  and 
Libyan  worship  for  which  we  are  looking,  and  recog- 
nise in  the  Zeus  Ammon  of  the  Greeks,  the  Jupiter 
Ammon  of  the  Romans,  and  the  Amon-Ra  of  the 
Egyptians,  the  Baal  Hammon  of  Sidonian  Carthage. 

In  the  time  of  the  new  empire  (Twentieth  Dynasty, 
1200  B.C.),  the  name  was  explained  as  meaning  "  The 
Hidden  One,"  and  Ammon  was  held  to  be  the  secret, 
all-pervading  power  of  the  sun  ;  but  of  his  original 
nature  the  Egyptians  themselves  seem  to  have  lost 
all  knowledge  and  even  tradition  ;  nor  is  this  extra- 
ordinary if  he  were,  in  truth,  an  autochthonous  god 
of  the  Libyans.  According  to  Wiedemann,  the  name 
is  derived  from  the  same  root  as  "  Amenti,"  which 
designates  both  the  west  and  the  underworld,  and 
suggests  that  he  may  have  been  at  one  time  a  god 
of  the  dead.  Other  texts,  especially  those  connecting 
Ammon  with  Min,  would  lead  us  to  regard  him  as 
personifying    the    continual   self-renewing    energy   of 


THE    GODS    OF   CARTHAGE  21 

nature.  The  sacred  animal  of  Min  was  also  a  ram, 
and  he  was  a  god  of  the  generative  powers  of  nature. 
Behind  the  figure  of  this  god  there  is  generally  placed 
a  shrine  with  trees,  recalling  the  sacred  groves  of  both 
Baal  Hammon  and  Tanith. 

The  name  of  another  Egyptian  god,  "  Ment,"  who 
ranked  next  in  importance  to  Amon  in  the  Theban 
nome,  seems  to  be  radically  connected  with  Amon ; 
indeed  Wiedemann  considers  it  probable  that  the  two 
gods  were  originally  identical.  His  sacred  animal  was 
the  bull,  Bakh,  the  Bacis  of  the  Greeks  ;  and,  as  Bacis 
is  called  in  the  texts  "  the  living  soul  of  Ra,"  it  is 
clear  that,  when  the  name  was  given,  the  fusion  of  the 
two  gods  had  already  been  accomplished.  Ment  was 
the  Egyptian  war  god,  and  as  such  he  is  sometimes 
linked  with  the  Semitic  Baal,  and  the  combined 
might  of  Ment  and  Baal,  when  granted  to  a  king, 
was  esteemed  the  very  epitome  of  strength. 

If  these  identifications  be  correct,  we  come  to  the 
conclusion  that  Hammon  was  originally  an  autoch- 
thonous nature  god  of  the  Libyans,  identified  by 
degrees  with  the  sun,  but  never  so  completely  in 
North  Africa  as  in  Egypt ;  certainly  he  was  never 
conceived  of  as  the  bright  and  glorious  Amon-Ra,  or 
Apollo.  He  was  always  a  dark  and  terrible  god, 
worshipped  with  horrible  and  bloody  rites,  the  origin 
of  which  may  be  sought  either  in  Libyan  or  in 
Phoenician  cults.  The  sacred  animals  with  which  he 
was  associated,  and  whose  horns  he  wore,  were  the 
bull  and,  especially,  the  ram.  Of  his  priests  he  de- 
manded the  sacrifice  of  their  manhood,  a  mutilation 
which,  in  the  modified  form  of  circumcision,  he  re- 
quired of  all  his  servants.  Like  Baal,  he  was  usually 
worshipped  on  high  places  :  at  Dougga,  on  the  crest 
of  a  precipitous  hill ;    at  Carthage,  although  there  is 


22  'TWIXT   SAND   AND    SEA 

no  doubt  that  he  had  a  temple  in  the  city,  near  that 
of  Tanith,  between  Byrsa  and  the  sea,  his  principal 
sanctuary,  consisting  probably  of  little  more  than  a 
sacred  grove  and  enclosure,  stood  on  the  summit  of 
Bou  Kornein,^  whose  crescent  height,  above  the  hot 
springs  of  Hammam  Lif,  looks  out  over  the  city  from 
beyond  the  Lake  of  Tunis.  It  was  there  that  not 
only  slaves  and  prisoners  of  war,  but  children  of  the 
purest  blood  of  Carthage,  passed  through  the  fire  to 
this  African  Moloch.^  We  are  told  that  the  unhappy 
parents  tried  to  escape  the  awful  sacrifice  and  to 
deceive  the  god  by  bringing  up  other  children  with 
their  own  and  offering  them  in  their  place.  On  one 
occasion,  when  Agathocles  was  besieging  the  city,  the 
Carthaginians,  believing  that  they  had  alienated  the 
god  by  the  deceit  which  they  had  practised,  decreed 
a  solemn  assembly  at  which  two  hundred  of  their 
children,  of  the  noblest  families,  and  three  hundred 
volunteers  were  thus  offered.^  The  little  victims  were 
frequently,  if  not  usually,  girls,  ranging  in  age  from 
about  eight  years  to  fifteen — that  is,  of  marriageable 
age,  like  the  daughter  of  Jephthah  or  Iphianassa. 

"  Nubendi  tempore  in  ipso 
Hostia  concideret  raactatu  moesta  parentis, 
Exitus  ut  classi  felix  faustusque  daretur. 
Tantum  Religio  potuit  suadere  malorum."  * 

In  autumn,  when  both  nature  and  the  sun  seem  to 
languish  and  to  die,  two  human  victims  were  sacrificed 
each  year,  for  the  horned  god  was  the  god  of  fruitful 

^  "The  horned  Father,"  lit.  the  "Father  of  horns";  cf.  Gen.  xiv.  5, 
Ashteroth  Karnaim,  "the  horned  Ashtart." 

^  Moloch,  hke  Baal,  was  a  title,  not  a  name.  It  is  the  word  "  Me]ek''or 
"  King,"  written  with  the  vowel  points  of  Bosheth  or  Abomination. 

'  Diod.  XX.  14.  Of  these  "  volunteers  "  he  adds,  "  who  were  liable  to 
censure ;"  on  what  grounds  is  not  clear. 

*  Lucretius,  i.  88. 


THE    GODS    OF    CARTHAGE  23 

seasons  as  well  as  of  the  sun.  Nor  were  these  the 
only  occasions.  In  the  necropolis  of  the  Rabs,  near 
St.  Monnica,  Pere  Delattre  has  discovered  a  number  of 
skulls  in  a  funeral  chamber  ;  two  belonged  to  adults 
in  coffins,  but  with  them  were  the  bones  of  about 
forty  children,  with  those  of  certain  animals,  dogs 
and  horses,^  the  funeral  sacrifice  for  the  dead.  The 
garden  and  museum  of  St.  Louis  are  lined  with 
hundreds  of  little  sarcophagi  containing  the  charred 
bones  of  victims  of  these  horrible  rites. 

It  is  a  matter  of  common  observation  that,  in 
religion  as  in  other  matters,  cruelty  and  sensuality 
go  together.  Of  the  unclean  rites,  recalling  the 
Bacchic  orgies  of  the  Moenads,  which  accompanied 
the  worship,  it  is  fortunately  unnecessary,  even  if 
it  were  possible,  to  speak  in  detail. 

The  Romans  found  the  cult,  adopted  and  spread 
it.  They  did  not,  however,  identify  Hammon  with 
the  sun  god,  but  with  Saturn,  the  Greek  Chronos,  or 
Time,  the  gloomy  god,  who  devoured  his  children, 
until  at  last  he  was  dethroned  by  one  w^ho  escaped. 
Astrologers  placed  his  abode  in  the  distant  planet 
which  wanders  slowly  and  dimly  in  its  lonely  orbit, 

'  The  presence  of  these  bones  of  animals  is  thus  explained.  The  ritual 
of  sacrifice  required  that  certain  parts  of  the  victim  should  be  eaten  by  the 
sacrificer.  When,  in  time,  such  cannibalism  became  unendurable,  men 
were  allowed  to  offer  domestic  animals  with  the  human  sacrifices  and  eat 
the  corresponding  parts  of  these. 

A  friend  tells  me  that,  when  he  was  travelling  in  North  Africa  some 
twenty  years  ago,  he  met  a  tribe  which  bred  dogs,  something  like  pugs  in 
appearance,  in  great  numbers.  At  certain  times  of  the  year  these  were 
eaten  in  solemn  feasts.  The  natives  could  give  no  explanation  of  the 
custom  ;  certainly  they  attributed  no  sacrificial  character  to  the  feasts.  But 
in  a  land  so  full  of  survivals  as  North  Africa,  this  has  the  appearance  of 
being  one. 

In  this  connection  it  may  be  added  that  the  Jews  of  Tunis  are  credited 
with  fattening  their  daughters  before  marriage,  on  the  flesh  of  a  certain 
breed  of  dogs.  I  have  been  unable  to  verify  this ;  but,  whatever  be  the 
process,  the  results  are  amazing. 


24  'TWIXT   SAND    AND    SEA 

farthest  from  the  sun  ;  on  his  day,  the  last  of  the 
week,  it  was  at  first  unlucky,  and  then  forbidden,  to 
do  any  work.  And  so  Baal  Hammon  of  Bou  Kornein 
became  Saturnus  Balcarnensis.  Occasionally  the  iden- 
tification was  with  Jupiter — in  the  Bar  do  at  Tunis 
is  an  inscription,  "  lovi  Hammoni  Barbaro  Silvano 
Sacerdotes."  Sometimes  it  was  with  both;  thus  we 
read  on  a  votive  tablet  in  the  museum  at  Theveste 
(Tebessa) — 

I.O.M.i 

SATURNO  AUGUSTO  SAC 

P.  POMPONIV  MAXIMVS 

SAC.  VOT.  LIB.  ANIMO.  FEC 

Tiberius  forbade  the  worship  and  crucified  the 
priests  to  the  trees  of  their  sacred  grove  ;  but  it  was 
in  vain  ;  the  cult  lasted  far  on  into  Christian  times  ; 
traces  of  it  may  be  found  in  the  sacrifice  of  five  children 
in  1535,  when  Charles  V.  threatened  Tunis,  and  in 
the  rite  of  circumcision  ;  and  in  the  practices  of  one 
at  least  of  the  Moslem  sects,  the  Aissaouas,^  it  still 
lives  on. 

Of  the  Punic  or  Roman  sanctuaries  on  Bou  Kornein 
nothing  remains  except  the  countless  votive  stele, 
telling  of  answered  prayer,  with  which  their  walls 
must  have  been  covered,  much  as  certain  churches, 
such  as  that  of  Bonsecours,  near  Rouen,  are  lined 
with  similar  tablets  to  the  Virgin  Mary.  If  we  desire 
to  know  what  a  Roman  temple  to  Hammon  was  like, 
we  must  go  to  that  home  of  beautiful  temples,  Thugga 
(Dougga). 

The  temple,  standing  high  above  the  city  on  a 
windy  headland,  faces  almost  exactly  due  east,  and 

^  That  is/ovi  Optimo  Maximo.     "To  Jupiter,  Best  and  Greatest." 
*  Vide  p.  430. 


THE    GODS    OF    CARTHAGE  25 

was  approached  by  a  pillared  vestibule  not  unlike 
that  which  Constantine  added  to  the  Basilica  of 
Maxentius  in  the  Forum  at  Rome.  From  the  vesti- 
bule a  monumental  gateway  led  into  the  great  court 
of  the  temple,  surrounded  on  three  sides,  to  the 
right,  the  left,  and  in  front,  by  a  cloister  resting  on 
thirty  columns.  On  the  ground,  between  the  central 
columns  of  the  western  side,  opposite  the  entrance, 
are  two  footprints,  carefully  chiselled.  These  were 
not  votive  like  those  found  in  the  Amphitheatre  of 
Carthage,  or  in  the  chapel  of  the  Quo  Vadis  at  Rome, 
but  marked  the  spot  where  the  priest's  feet  must  be 
placed,  that  he  might  catch  the  first  rays  of  the  rising 
sun,  the  star  of  Hammon.  On  the  cornice,  surround- 
ing the  court,  ran  a  long  inscription  telling  us  how 
Lucius  Octavius  Victor  Roscianus  built  the  temple  in 
the  year  of  the  second  Tribuniciate  and  third  Consulate 
of  Septimius  Severus  (a.d.  195). 

Beyond  the  cloister  to  the  west  stood  three  halls, 
side  by  side,  not  unlike  the  Capitol  at  Sufetula  (Sbeitla). 
The  entrance  to  the  central  chamber — the  Sanctum 
Sanctorum — was  closed  by  a  grille,  or  wall,  flanked 
by  two  little  doors,  and  approached  by  a  couple  of 
steps.  The  interior  was  decorated  with  a  huge  vine  in 
stucco,  the  leaves  and  bunches  of  grapes  of  which 
stood  out  in  bold  relief  from  the  walls,  reminding  us 
of  the  golden  vine  which  decorated  the  great  gate  of 
the  temple  of  Jerusalem.  At  the  end,  in  a  niche, 
stood  the  god  himself,  inaccessible  and  invisible  save 
to  the  initiate,  who  only  could  enter  this,  his  chosen 
resting-place.  The  other  two  chambers  were  stores, 
or  places  where  the  priests  and  worshippers  could 
perform  the  necessary  purifications  before  appearing 
before  the  face  of  god.  In  one  was  found  a  marble 
statue  of  the  civic  type,  possibly  of  Roscianus  himself. 


26  'TWIXT   SAND    AND   SEA 

The  arrangement,  as  Dr.  Carton  observes,  is  interest- 
ing because  it  approximates  less  to  the  Western  type 
than  to  the  Eastern,  of  which  the  temple  at  Jerusalem 
is  the  best-known  example.  We  are  also  reminded  how 
careful  the  Romans  were  to  consult  the  feelings  and 
prejudices  of  the  natives,  even  when  they  adopted 
and  Romanised  the  Libyan  worship.  Close  to  the 
word  "  Saturnus "  in  the  inscription  round  the 
cloister,  a  stone  has  been  found,  embedded  in  the 
wall,  giving  the  name  of  Hammon  ;  this  evidently 
belonged  to  the  earlier  temple,  and  was  placed  there 
by  design.  In  the  same  way,  under  the  foundations, 
were  discovered  some  six  hundred  stele,  bearing  votive 
inscriptions  and  emblems  of  the  Punic  god.  At  the 
foot  of  each  was  found  an  urn  containing  the  bones 
of  sacrificed  animals,  a  small  amphora  with  pieces  of 
money,  and  vials  of  odours. 

TANITH 

More  probable  is  the  Libyan  origin  of  the  great 
goddess  of  Carthage,  Tanith.  Dr.  Bertholon  explains 
the  name  as  *'  Ta-Neith,"  "  The  Neith,"  and  though 
Egyptian  scholars  are  not  inclined  to  allow  his  de- 
rivation of  Hammon  from  "  a-Moun,"  they  are  more 
disposed  to  accept  that  which  he  assigns  to  the  sister 
goddess. 

It  is  now  generally  admitted  that  the  original  in- 
habitants of  Egypt  were  Libyans,  or,  as  they  are  now 
called,  Berbers ;  and,  as  the  worship  of  Neith  is 
certainly  older  than  the  First  Dynasty  (4400  B.C.), 
she  may  fairly  be  considered  as  one  of  the  deities  of 
the  country.  In  confirmation  of  this,  we  do  not  find 
her  worship  confined  to  any  one  city  in  Egypt,  but 
established  along  the  whole  length  of  the  Nile  valley. 

The  Egyptians  associated  their  principal  deities 


I 


J 


THE    GODS    OF   CARTHAGE  27 

in  triads,  or  groups  of  three,  like  those  of  Zeus,  Here, 
and  Athene  at  Athens,  and  Jupiter,  Juno,  and  Minerva 
at  Rome.  At  Sais,  in  the  delta,  the  triad  consisted 
of  Osiris,  Neith,  and  Horus.  Neith,  the  female  ele- 
ment of  the  godhead,  was  represented  as  an  armed 
goddess  bearing  bow  and  arrow.  For  this  reason,  per- 
haps, she  was  identified  with  Athene  ;  thus  Plato  says 
in  the  Tiniceus  :'^  "At  the  head  of  the  Egyptian 
delta,  where  the  river  Nile  divides,  there  is  a  certain 
district  which  is  called  the  district  of  Sais,  and  the 
great  city  of  the  district  is  also  called  Sais,  and  is  the 
city  from  which  Amasis,  the  king,  was  sprung.  The 
citizens  have  a  deity  who  was  their  foundress  :  she 
is  called  in  the  Egyptian  tongue  Neith,  and  is  asserted 
by  them  to  be  the  same  whom  the  Hellenes  call 
Athene  :  they  are  great  lovers  of  the  Athenians,  and 
say  that  they  are  in  some  way  related  to  them."' 
Herodotus  (iv.  189)  traces  other  similarities  between 
the  Greek  and  Libyan  Athene,  and  derives  from  the 
latter  the  dress  and  aegis  of  the  goddess  of  Athens,  as 
well  as  some  details  of  her  worship. 

In  addition  to  her  bow  and  arrows,  Neith  carries 
in  her  left  hand  the  sceptre  of  a  goddess,  and  in  her 
right  the  Ankh,  the  sign  of  life.  On  her  head  she 
wears  the  crown  of  Lower  Egypt,  and  the  idiogram  for 
her  name  was  a  weaver's  shuttle,  a  device  which  the 
Libyans  tattooed  upon  their  arms  and  wove  into  their 
clothing.^  In  Egyptian  mythology  she  was  called 
"  The  Mother  of  the  Gods,"  especially  of  the  sun  god 
Ra,  and  so  Sais  was  known  as  the  "  Home  of  the 
Mother  of  the  Gods."  Subsequently  her  place  in  the 
Osirian  triad  was  taken  by  Isis,  the  ideal  mother, 
with  whom  Neith  was  confused  or  identified.     As  the 

^  Timceus,  xxi.     Jowett's  translation. 
*  Petrie,  Nagada  and  Ballas,  p.  64. 


28  'TWIXT   SAND    AND    SEA 


I 


sign  for  the  word  "  mother  "  or  "  mut  "  was  a  vulture, 
both  Neith  and  Isis  were  vulture  goddesses,  and  the 
latter  is  represented  with  vulture  wings  springing  from 
the  hips,  which,  stretched  out  in  front  of  the  body, 
formed  a  shelter  for  her  children. 

Far  away  to  the  south,  in  Upper  Egypt,  the  Theban 
triad  consisted  of  Amon  or  Hammon,  Mut,  and  Khonsu, 
and  as  Mut,  the  Mother,  or  the  Lady  of  Heaven  or  the 
Sky,  was  identical  with  the  Neith  of  Sais,  we  found 
her  here  in  close  connection  with  Amon-Ra,  ''  The 
Husband  of  his  Mother."  ^ 

In  a  rainless  country  like  Egypt,  gods  of  the 
elements  hardly  entered  into  the  pantheon,  but  such 
attributes  were,  naturally,  prominent  in  the  conception 
of  the  Libyan  goddess.  She  was  the  mother  of  nature, 
and  as  Hammon  became  more  and  more  identified 
with  the  sun,  so  she  with  the  moon,  the  giver  of 
quickening,  fertilising  rain,  always  considered  to  be 
the  gift  of  the  moon.  To  some  extent  these  ideas 
seem  to  have  been  connected  with  another  Egyptian 
goddess.  Nut,  the  Lady  of  the  Sky,  with  whom  Neith 
has  been  vaguely  connected,  but  the  whole  conception 
was  alien  to  Egyptian  thought. 

The  Romans,  for  the  most  part,  identified  Tanith 
with  Juno,  and  called  her  Juno  Coelestis,  or  Coelestis 
only,  sometimes  with  the  addition  polliacatrix  pluvia- 
rum.  In  Vergil  she  appears  as  Pronuba  Juno,  the 
goddess  of  fruitful  marriages.  Another  title  given 
her  in  three  inscriptions^  discovered  at  Fedj  Mzala, 
is  *'  Dea  Nutrix,"  and  an  inscription  on  the  base  of 
a  statue  at  Lambaesis   (Lambessa)  ^    is   to   "  Nutrici 

^  Wiedemann,  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians,  pp.  104,  in.  With 
this  strange  title  we  may  compare  the  dedication  of  the  Certosa  at  Pavia  to 
the  "  Virgin,  Mother,  Daughter,  and  Wife  of  God." 

*  C.I.L.  viii.  8245-6-7. 

»  C.I.L.  viii.  2664. 


Tanith  (?) 


THE    GODS    OF    CARTHAGE  29 

Deae."  Here  she  holds  an  infant  on  her  left  arm  and 
a  loaf  of  bread  in  her  right  hand.  Both  of  these 
emblems  reveal  her  as  the  goddess  of  fertility,  "  in 
the  fruit  of  thy  body  and  in  the  fruit  of  thy  ground."  ^ 
In  this  connection  it  may  be  noticed  that  she  was 
sometimes  identified  with  Demeter  or  Ceres,  mother  of 
Persephone,  and  of  the  harvest,  and  worshipped  under 
that  name.  It  is  an  early  and  interesting  instance 
of  that  almost  universal  cult  of  the  Mother  and  Child, 
which  made  its  way  from  Egypt  to  Rome,  and  thence 
into  the  Christian  Church,-  where  it  bids  fair  to  over- 
shadow, if  not  eclipse,  the  worship  of  the  God-man. 

On  the  lid  of  a  large  sarcophagus,  now  in  the  museum 
at  Carthage,  containing  the  bones  of  a  priestess  of 
Tanith,  is  carved  the  figure  of  the  goddess  herself.^ 
A  beautiful  woman,  grandly  modelled,  she  is  clothed 
with  a  rose-coloured  "  garment  down  to  the  foot  and 
girt  about  the  paps  with  a  golden  girdle."  The  right 
hand,  hanging  loosely  by  her  side,  holds  a  dove ; 
the  left,  bent  at  the  elbow,  a  vase  of  offerings.  An 
Egyptian   headdress   is   surmounted  by   a   crown,   in 

^  Deut.  xxviii.  4.  For  some  interesting  illustrations  of  somewhat 
similar  figures  of  Isis  and  Horus,  v.  Egypt  and  Israel,  by  Flinders  Petrie. 
The  girdle  of  Isis,  to  which  he  draws  attention  (p.  140),  reappears  in  the 
legend  of  the  Virgin  and  St.  Thomas.     Cf.  Diod.  Sic.  iii.  67,  69. 

^  This  was  in  the  fifth  century,  when  the  worship  of  Isis,  Rcgina  Call, 
Deiwi  Mater,  Regi7ia  Mariiim,  &c.  {v.  Apuleius,  Met.  xi.),  was  proscribed. 
For  some  notes  on  the  attribution  of  the  symbols  of  Isis  to  the  Virgin  Mary, 
see  Budge,  The  Gods  of  the  Egyptiafis,  vol.  ii.  p.  220. 

'  The  sarcophagus  belongs  to  the  third  or  fourth  century  B.C.,  and 
was  found  in  the  cemetery  of  the  Rabs  or  priests,  near  the  Damous  el 
Karita. 

The  figure  is  commonly  called  that  of  the  Priestess,  and  certainly  this 
is  the  more  natural  ;  moreover,  the  difference  between  the  goddess  and 
a  priestess  with  the  attributes  of  the  goddess  is  not  very  wide.  On  the 
other  hand,  according  to  Dr.  Bertholon,  the  bones  found  in  the  sarcophagus 
are  those  of  an  old  woman  with  a  projecting  lower  jaw  and,  probably,  a 
wide,  flat  nose.  If  so,  it  is  difficult  to  believe  that  the  beautiful  carving  was 
seriously  meant  to  represent  her. 


30  'TWIXT   SAND    AND    SEA 

front  of  which  stands  out  the  head  of  a  vulture.  From 
the  hips  spring  two  great  vulture  wings,  which,  folded 
in  front  of  the  body,  cover  all,  except  the  feet,  from 
the  waist  downwards. 

Such,  according  to  the  Greek  artist  who  executed 
the  work,  was  the  Libyan  goddess  Tanith — Greek  in 
the  gracious  beauty  of  the  face  and  the  nobly  har- 
monious lines  of  the  figure,  but  Libyan  or  Egyptian 
in  all  the  details  and  attributes.  The  dove  was, 
however,  an  emblem  of  Ashtart  and  Aphrodite.  It 
is  the  Vulture,  yet  kindly  mother  goddess,  Neith, 
Mut,  Nut,  or  Isis.^ 

That  the  Carthaginians  should  connect  or  associate 
her  with  their  goddess  Ashtart  was  inevitable  ;  that 
they  did  so  is  certain.  In  the  museum  at  Carthage 
is  the  dedication  of  a  temple  to  "  The  Ladies  Ashtart 
and  Tanith  in  Lebanon,"  -  a  hill  in  Carthage  ;  and 
there  is  an  inscription  to  Ashtart  Tanith  ;  moreover, 
the  rites  with  w^hich  both  were  worshipped  were  very 
similar^  but  chiefly  in  those  elements  which  are  common 
to  all  such  primitive  religions.  On  the  whole,  it  would 
seem  that  the  association  was  never  very  close,  and 
that,  as  the  bonds  between  Carthage  and  the  mother 
country  loosened,  Ashtart  was  forgotten,  and  the 
Libyan  goddess  adored  alone. 

As  by  degrees  Hammon  became  more  and  more 
a  sun  god,  Tanith  became  the  goddess  of  the  moon, 
and  the  curved  bull  horns  of  the  god  were  given  her 
to  represent  the  crescent.     Sometimes  they  rest  upon 

'  In  the  British  Museum  is  a  small  statue  of  Isis.  Her  wings,  which 
spring  from  the  hips,  are  stretched  out  straight  in  front  of  her.  Between 
them  stands  Osiris  un  Nefer. 

2  Possibly  the  site  took  its  name  from  the  temple.  At  Aphalia  in  the 
Lebanon  was  a  Temple  of  Aphrodite,  in  which  she  was  worshipped  under 
the  name  of  "  Ourania,"'  or  "  Coelestis."  Cf.  Herod,  i.  105,  and  i  Samuel 
xxxi.  10. 


THE    GODS    OF    CARTHAGE  31 

the  sun's  disc,  sometimes  they  bend  down  over  it,  some- 
times they  embrace  it  within  their  curve.  Countless 
votive  stele  have  been  found  dedicated  to  her  and 
Hammon,  but  she  is  always  put  first.  "  To  Rabetna 
Tanith  Peni  Baal,"  they  run,  and  "  To  Adon  Baal 
Hammon  !  "     Here  is  one — 

"  To  the  Lady  Tanith,  Face  of  Baal, 
To  the  Lord  Baal  Hammon,  vowed  by 
Hoballat  daughter  of  Abdmelqart 
Son  of  Giscon,  son  of  Hannibaal." 

Another — 

"To  the  Lady  Tanith,  Face  of  Baal, 
To  the  Lord  Baal  Hammon,  vowed  by 
Sofat  son  of  Adonibaal 
The  Suffete,  son  of  Hamilcat 

I  The  Suffete,  because  she  has  made  him  hear  her  voice." 

t 

I  On  one  stele  ^  Tanith  is  represented  as  a  sheep,  and 
is  herself  given  the  title  of  Adon.  Possibly  this  is  a 
mistake  of  the  mason,  or  it  may  tend  to  show  that 
the  goddess  was  conceived  of  as  androgynous  ;  in 
this  case  the  almost  invariable  phrase  ''  Face  of  Baal " 
<  may  be  connected  with  the  bearded  Ashtart,  and  mean 
!  "  with  a  Baal  face,"  "  the  bearded  goddess." 

The  worship  of  Tanith  was  so  closely  associated 

with  that  of  Baal  Hammon  that  separate  notice  is 

'  unnecessary.      Of   her   votaresses  she   demanded  the 

I  sacrifice   of   their   chastity,   or   of  their   hair.^     It   is 

!  difficult  not  to  think  that  we  have  a  trace  of  the  latter 

alternative  when  we  read  that,  in  the  last  siege,  the 

^  C.I.S.  419.     Cf.  Relioion  of  the  Semites,  p.  478. 

^  At  Byblus,  in  the  rites  of  Adonis  (Tammuz),  women  cut  their  hair  or 
sold  themselves  to  a  stranger,  and  bought  a  sacrifice  for  Aphrodite  with 
the  price  of  their  honour.  In  Babylonian  and  Assyrian  mythology,  Ishtar 
(Ashtart),  the  goddess  of  fertility,  visits  the  underworld  to  win  the  healing 
waters  which  shall  revive  Tammuz,  the  sun.  Possibly  it  was  in  this  way 
that  Ishtar  became  identified  with  the  moon.     Cf.  Ez.  viii.  13. 


THE    GODS    OF    CARTHAGE  33 

Cross  of  Constantine,  from  its  resemblance  to  the 
first  two  Greek  letters  of  the  name  of  Christ  ;  and 
so  it  lives  on,  as  the  sign  of  Tanith  in  Africa,  and  of 
Life  in  Egypt,  on  the  breasts  of  Berber  women  and 
on  the  covers  of  Christian  prayer-books.^ 

The  form,  nay,  the  very  site,  of  her  temple,  Punic 
or  Roman,  at  Carthage  is  unknown,  though  the  dis- 
covery of  an  enormous  number  of  votive  stele  between 
Byrsa  and  the  sea  seems  to  indicate  its  neighbour- 
hood. To  know  what  the  latter  temple  was  like,  we 
must  travel  again  to  Thugga  (Dougga). 

The  Temple  of  Ccelestis  there,  as  elsewhere,  faced 
due  south,  that  so  the  beams  of  the  Star  of  Hammon 
might  lighten  the  darkness  of  the  shrine  of  her  who 
was  his  face  at  their  highest  and  brightest.  In  front ^ 
raised  upon  a  vaulted  crypt,  was  a  vestibule,  probably 
not  unlike  that  in  front  of  the  Temple  of  Saturn. 
Behind  this  lay  a  broad  paved  court,  into  which  two 
lateral  doors  led  from  the  city.  Outside  the  eastern 
entrance,  which  led  to  the  Forum,  was  a  large 
chamber  for  ablutions,  resembling  the  Mida  which  we 
find  in  the  modern  mosque.  A  beautiful  semicircular 
colonnade,  ending  in  two  lovely  little  iEdiculae,  and  shut 
in  by  an  outer  wall,  but  open  towards  the  temple, 
recalled  the  crescent  emblem  of  the  goddess.  The 
frieze,  resting  on  twenty  pillars,  carried  a  long  inscrip- 
tion of  the  usual  type,  telling  us  that  the  temple  was 
built  in  honour  of  the  "  Dea  Coelestis "  by  Julius 
Venustus  Gabinius  and  Julia  Gabinia  Venusta  between 
the  years  a.d.  222  and  225. 

Resting  on  the  frieze,  and  crowning  each  column,, 

1  In  the  plate  "  Signs  and  Symbols,"  36  and  37  are  Hatchets  ;  38,  39, 
40,  Taniths ;  41,  the  Ankh  ;  42,  the  Labarum  ;  43,  an  ordinary  Tanith 
brooch  ;  46,  a  Punic  jewel  ;  37  was  found  in  Sardinia,  and  is  now  in  the 
British  Museum. 

C 


34  'TWIXT    SAND    AND    SEA 

was  a  statue  of  some  town  or  province.  The  names 
of  some  of  these  can  still  be  read  :  Thugga,  Karthago, 
Laodicea,  Mesopotamia,  Syria,  Judsea,  Dalmatia,  but 
not  enough  to  show  on  what  principles,  or  for  what 
reasons,  they  were  selected. 

The  hallowed  precinct  within  the  colonnade  was 
planted  with  a  sacred  grove,  in  the  midst  of  which, 
in  all  its  graceful  beauty,  stood  the  Cella  of  the  temple 
itself.  A  flight  of  eight  steps  led  up  to  the  portico 
or  Pronaos,  consisting  of  three  rows  of  columns,  six 
in  the  front  row  and  four  in  each  of  the  other  rows  ; 
an  arcade  of  similar,  detached  pillars  ran  round  the 
Cella,^  in  which  stood  the  goddess  herself.  Even  in 
ruins,  as  we  see  it  now,  but  still  surrounded  by  its 
olive  grove,  it  is  one  of  the  most  lovely  of  the 
temples  of  North  Africa,  second  only  to  the  Capitol 
which  stood  hard  by. 

Such  were  the  gods  of  Carthage,  and  such,  at  least 
in  outline,  the  rites  with  which  they  were  worshipped. 

Of  the  Punic  temples  in  which  these  rites  were 
celebrated  we  know  nothing,  save  that  the  one  was 
suited  to  the  other.  In  Salambo,  Flaubert  has  given 
an  elaborate  description  of  the  Temple  of  Tanith  and 
its  obscene  inhabitants.  It  is  purely  imaginary.  It  is 
not  likely — nay,  it  is  hardly  conceivable — that  it  should 
be  true. 

His  horrible  picture  of  the  great  sacrifice  to  Ham- 
mon  is  probably  much  nearer  the  truth.  How  shall 
we  imagine  the  temple  of  this  god  ?  A  huge  enclosure 
planted  with  a  grove  of  trees ;  set  thick  with  votive 
tablets  and  stele  ;  altars  for  burnt  offerings ;  a  huge 
brazen  image  of  the  god,  in  which,  or  on  the  arms 
of  which,  the  unhappy  victims  could  be  roasted  alive  ; 
in  front  of  it  a  horrible  furnace  pit,  into  which  the 

^  Technically  the  temple  was  hexastyle,  peripteral,  stylobate. 


THE    GODS    OF   CARTHAGE  35 

wretched  victims  rolled  off  the  brazen  arms  of  the 
god  ;  ^  such  there  were  ;  whether  there  was  much  more 
may  well  be  doubted. 

The  beautiful  temples  we  have  described  came 
three  hundred  years  after  the  days  of  Punic  Carthage 
were  over.  Though  dedicated  to  Libyan  deities,  it 
was  under  Roman  names  and  Roman  attributes  ;  in 
short,  they  are  essentially  Roman  temples,  fitted  only 
for  Roman  worship  of  Roman  gods.  The  obscene 
and  inhuman  abominations  of  the  old  worship  would 
have  been  impossible  in  their  narrow  precincts,  even 
if  they  had  been  in  harmony  with  Arian  conceptions 
of  what  God  requires  of  men  "  to  tread  His  courts." 

1  The  idea  seems  to  have  been  that,  in  this  way,  the  victim  was  delivered 
alive  to  the  god,  and  that  the  responsibility  for  the  death  rested  upon  him. 


CHAPTER    III 
THE  SWORD  AND  THE  TRIDENT,  264-201  b.c. 

When,  in  the  year  264  B.C.,  Carthage  first  came  into 
armed  colhsion  with  Rome,  she  had  been  for  nearly 
two  hundred  years  the  Queen  of  the  Mediterranean, 
dominant  in  the  East,  so  supreme  in  the  West  that 
her  ambassadors  told  the  Romans  that  they  might 
not  even  wash  their  hands  in  the  sea  without  leave 
from  Carthage.  A  naval  power  only,  she  had  never 
sought  for  other  empire  than  that  of  the  sea,  but 
that  had  been  hers  so  completely  and  so  long,  that 
she  had  learnt  to  consider  it  hers  almost  by  a  law 
of  nature.  Just  as  now,  wherever  the  traveller  round 
the  world  finds  a  piece  of  land  worth  having,  he  finds 
the  English  flag  waving  over  it,  so  was  it  then  in  the 
Mediterranean,  the  central  sea  of  the  ancient  world. 
The  south  of  Spain  owed  allegiance  to  Carthage ; 
North  Africa  was  fringed  with  her  factories  or  em- 
poria  ;  the  west  of  Sicily,  Sardinia,  Malta,  the  Balearic 
Islands,  accepted  her  rule.  With  Greece  she  had 
settled  her  accounts,  with  Rome  she  had  a  treaty.^ 
And  so,  sitting  like  a  queen,  like  Tyrus  before  her, 
in  the  midst  of  the  seas,  with  the  wealth  of  the  world 
pouring  into  her  lap,  it  is  little  wonder  that  "  her 
heart  was  lifted  up  because  of  her  beauty,  and  she 
set  her  heart  as  the  heart  of  God." 

But,  for  all  this  fair  show,  the  foundations  of  her 

^  This  treaty  went  back  to  the  foundation  of  the  Republic  of  Rome. 
It  throws  back  the  commercial  greatness  of  Carthage  farther  than  we  are 
accustomed  to  put  it. 

36 


THE    SWORD    AND    THE    TRIDENT       37 

I 

I  supremacy  were  rotten,  for  it  rested  upon  her  sea 

!  power  only.     When  she  needed  troops,  Carthage  had 
I  to  trust  to  the  chance  friendship  of  the  warhke  and 
barbarous  tribes  which  surrounded  her,  and  to  the 
very  uncertain  loyalty  of  a  mercenary  army.     When 
Hamilcar  Barcas  landed  in  Spain  at  the  beginning  of 
!  the  Second  Punic  War,  it  is  said  that,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  a  General  Staff  of  officers,  he  had  not  a  single 
I  Carthaginian  soldier  in  the  ranks.     It  was  by  his  dis- 
I  graceful  betrayal  of  his  Libyan  troops,  in  358  B.C., 
that  Himilco  gave  occasion  for  the  phrase  "  Punica 
I   Fides,"  which  clung  to  Carthage  for  ever  after  ;   while 
I   on  their  return  from  the  First  Punic  War,  the  army 
1  of  Hamilcar  mutinied  and,  for  three  years,  engaged 
I   Carthage  in  the  Mercenary  War  of  which  Flaubert 

has  given  so  lurid  an  account  in  Salambo. 
'  Meanwhile,  across  the  narrow  seas  which  divide 
Africa  from  Europe,  a  hardy  and  strenuous  race  was 
being  built  up  into  a  nation,  welded  together  by  blood 
and  iron.  Every  man  was  by  instinct  and  necessity 
a  soldier,  and  inspired  by  a  spirit  of  patriotism  which 
made  him  cheerfully  recognise  and  accept  universal 
service  as  a  national  duty.  Conquered  Etruria  had 
done  much  to  civilise  her  rough  conquerors  :  she  had 
given  them  laws,  religion,  architecture — everything, 
indeed,  but  language.  The  rich  plains  of  Cisalpine 
Gaul  (Lombardy)  had  been  occupied,  and  South  Italy 
annexed.  And  now  Rome,  looking  across  the  narrow 
strait  from  Scylla  to  Charybdis,  claimed  Sicily  as  a 
natural  and  necessary  portion  of  her  inheritance. 

So  long  as  Carthage  confined  herself  to  the  extreme 
west  of  the  island,  to  Drepanun  (Trapani)  and  Panor- 
mos  (Palermo),^  and  Greece  was  content  with  her  foot- 

1  It  is  strange,  but  the   Phoenician   name  of  Palermo    is    not  known  ; 
"  Panormos  "  is  Greek,  and  means  the  "All-Harbour." 


38  'TWIXT   SAND    AND    SEA 

hold  at  Syracuse,  there  was  no  occasion  for  any  actual 
collision  ;   but  there  was  not  room  in  the  little  island 
for  the  intrusion  of  a  third  power.     In  265  B.C.,  Rome 
made  her  first  advance  by  receiving  all  Sicilian  Italians 
into  the  Italian  Confederacy.     In  the  following  year 
Carthage   replied   by   occupying   Messana   (Messina) ;  ; 
Caius  Claudius  then  landed,  surprised  and  took  prisoner  ' 
the  Carthaginian  Admiral  Hanno,  and  retook  Messana. 
At  this  the  Carthaginians  declared  war,  prefacing  it, 
according  to  their  custom,  by  the  execution  of  the 
unfortunate  admiral,   "  pour  encourager  les  autres." 
Thus   began    the    momentous    struggle    between    the 
whale  and  the  elephant,  which  was  fated  to  last  for  I 
one  hundred  and  twenty  years  and  to  end  in  the 
annihilation  of  the  city  of  Elissar. 

It  was  inevitable  that,  in  its  first  stages,  the  war 
should  be  naval  and  its  issues  determined,  not  on  the 
land,  but  at  sea  ;  and  the  Carthaginian  fleet  was  over- 
whelmingly the  strongest.  Hitherto  it  had  consisted 
of  triremes,  or  galleys  with  three  banks  of  oars,  each 
manned  by  ten  soldiers  and  one  hundred  and  thirty 
rowers,  slaves  who  never  left  the  benches  to  which 
they  were  chained.  This  horribly  cruel  discipline 
secured  for  Carthage  two  advantages  of  vital  import- 
ance :  she  could  mobilise  at  a  moment's  notice,  and 
her  crews,  kept  in  a  state  of  constant  and  severe 
exercise  and  training,  could  be  relied  upon  to  carry  1 
out  those  tactics  of  manoeuvring,  ramming,  and  sink-  '| 
ing  the  enemy's  ships  on  which,  and  not  on  hand- 
to-hand  fighting,  Carthage  relied  for  victory. 

But  in  addition  to  the  trireme,  she  had  recently 
learnt  to  build  a  much  larger  class  of  vessels,  Penteres, 
or  quinqueremes,  with  five  banks  of  oars,  which  occu- 
pied towards  the  trireme  very  much  the  same  position 
as  that   taken  by  the  Dreadnought  towards  the  old 


THE    SWORD    AND    THE    TRIDENT        39 

line-of-battle  ship.  Each  of  these  was  manned  by 
about  twenty  soldiers  and  three  hundred  rowers. 

This  new  departure  was  the  salvation  of  Rome,  for 
it  practically  put  the  triremes,  in  which  the  great 
superiority  of  Carthage  lay,  out  of  the  fighting  line. 
Recognising  that  the  smaller  vessels  were  hopelessly 
outclassed  by  the  larger,  the  Romans  made  no  effort 
to  make  up  their  deficiency  in  triremes,  but,  taking  a 
stranded  Carthaginian  ship  as  a  model,  concentrated 
all  their  energies  on  the  building  of  a  hundred  quin- 
queremes.  In  addition  to  this,  realising  that  they 
were  soldiers  attacking  sailors,  they  determined  to 
make  a  naval  battle  as  like  a  land  battle  as  possible. 
For  this  purpose  they  placed  on  the  prow  of  each 
vessel  a  flying  bridge,  and,  to  the  crew  of  three  hun- 
dred sailors,  they  added  a  complement  of  one  hundred 
and  twenty  legionaries,  or  marines.  So  soon  as  a 
Punic  vessel  approached  and  tried  to  ram,  the  heavy 
bridge,  armed  with  a  sharp  spike  or  hook,  which  gave 
its  name  of  Corvus  to  the  whole  engine,  was  dropped 
on  the  deck,  and  the  legionaries  swarmed  over  and 
boarded  her.^ 

The  first  enterprise  ended  in  failure.  In  260  B.C. 
the  fleet  was  launched,  and  C.  Cornelius  Scipio,  with 
a  squadron  of  seventeen  ships,  tried  to  take  Lipara. 
The  Carthaginians  overpowered  him  and  captured  the 
entire  fleet. 

The  command  was  then  entrusted  to  C.  Duilius, 

*  The  description  of  the  Corvus  given  by  Polybius  is  minute  but  not 
clear.  In  the  prow  of  the  vessel  was  erected  a  mast,  twenty-four  feet  high, 
with  a  pulley  at  the  top.  To  this  mast  was  attached  by  a  ring,  a  gangway, 
thirty-six  feet  long  and  four  wide,  with  a  railing  on  each  side  as  high  as  a 
man's  knee.  At  the  end  was  an  iron  spike.  As  the  enemy  drew  near,  the 
whole  was  hoisted  to  the  top  of  the  mast,  so  as  to  clear  the  bulwarks,  and 
dropped  on  to  the  opponent's  deck.  If  the  ships  lay  side  by  side,  the  soldiers 
boarded  where  they  chose  ;  if  they  were  prow  to  prow,  the  men  passed,  two 
abreast,  by  the  gangway. 


40  'TWIXT   SAND    AND    SEA 

and  in  a  battle  fought  off  Myloe,  near  Palermo,  fifty 
Carthaginian  vessels,  nearly  half  the  fleet,  were  cap- 
tured or  sunk,  largely  by  means  of  the  terrible  flying  ; 
bridges.  Duilius  was  awarded  a  triumph,  and  the 
strange  honour  of  having  a  flute-player  to  escort  him 
home  from  dinner.  A  Columna  Rostrata — the  first 
of  its  kind — was  erected  in  the  Forum  and  adorned 
with  the  beaks  of  the  Carthaginian  vessels. 

Four  years  later,  256  B.C.,  the  Romans  felt  them- 
selves strong  enough,  by  sea  as  well  as  by  land,  boldly 
to  carry  the  war  into  the  enemy's  country.  A  fleet 
of  three  hundred  and  thirty  sail,  carrying  forty  thou- 
sand soldiers,  in  addition  to  their  complement  of  one 
hundred  thousand  rowers,  was  despatched  for  Car- 
thage, under  the  command  of  the  Consul,  Marcus 
Atihus  Regulus.  Off  Mount  Ecnomus  (Licata),  which 
thrusts  its  huge  bulk  out  into  the  sea  thirty  miles 
east  of  Agrigentum  (Girgenti),  they  encountered  the 
yet  stronger  fleet  of  Carthage.  In  the  battle  which 
ensued,  not  less  than  three  hundred  thousand  men 
were  engaged.  The  result  was  disastrous  to  Car- 
thage ;  she  lost  ninety-four  ships,  and  the  Romans, 
although  their  losses  were  equally  severe,  achieved  | 
their  purpose,  and  were  able  to  pass  on  unhindered  1 
and  effect  a  landing  at  Clypea  (Kilibia),  on  the  eastern 
shore  of  the  promontory  of  Cape  Bon,  while  the 
Carthaginian  fleet,  crippled  but  not  put  out  of  action, 
was  awaiting  them  in  the  home  waters  to  the  west. 
Their  coming  was  a  signal  for  a  general  rising  of  the 
native  tribes. 

For  a  time  the  success  of  Regulus  was  brilliant 
and  complete.  Driving  the  armies  of  Carthage  before 
him,  he  pushed  his  way  victoriously  round  the  gulf 
of  Tunis,  took  the  city  of  Tunis,  and  menaced  Carthage 
herself. 


THE    SWORD    AND    THE    TRIDENT       41 

I         Then    came    one    of    those    sudden    outbursts    of 

'  enthusiastic  heroism   of  which,  under  the   stress   of 

pressing  danger,  the  Carthaginians,  Hke  all  Oriental 

nations,  showed  themselves  from  time  to  time  capable. 

From  Sparta  they  invoked  the  aid  of  the  renowned 

General  Xanthippus,  and,  under  his  leadership,  Regulus 

I  was  totally  defeated,  his  army,  with  the  exception 
of  some  two  thousand  men,  exterminated,  and  himself 
taken  prisoner,  255  B.C.    Nor  was  this  all,  for  a  Roman 

i  fleet  sent  to  his  assistance  perished  in  a  storm  on  the 
coast  of  Sicily,  off  Pachynus  (Cape  Passaro)  ;  and 
the  Carthaginians,  safe  for  the  moment  from  foreign 

'  attack,  were  at  liberty  to  settle  matters  at  home. 
The  rebellious  tribes  were  subdued,  and  their  sheiks, 

!  to  the  number  of  three  thousand,  crucified.     It   was 

!  the  ordinary  Carthaginian  method  of  keeping  up  dis- 
cipline or  restoring  order. 

The  scene  of  war  then  shifted  finally  to  Sicily. 
Taking  advantage  of  the  defeat  by  land,  and  loss  of 
ships  by  sea,  which  the  Romans  had  suffered,  the 
Carthaginians  attacked  and  recaptured  Agrigentum 
(Girgenti),  and,  in  the  following  year,  Drepanum 
(Trapani)  also,  of  which  the  Romans  had  made  them- 
selves masters. 

The  war  centred  round  Panormos  (Palermo), 
the  strongest  city,  with  the  finest  harbour,  on  the 
north  coast  of  Sicily.  The  city  lies  at  the  head  of  a 
little  bay,  from  which  the  beautifully  fertile  valley 
of  the  Concha  d'Oro  (the  Golden  Shell)  stretches 
inland,  under  the  shelter  of  the  hills  now  crowned 
with  the  glorious  church  of  Monreale. 

To  the  west  the  town  and  harbour  ^  are  sheltered 
and  protected  by  the  huge  shoulder  of  Ercte  (Monte 
Pellegrino),  which  was  then  connected  with  the  main- 

^  The  original  harbour  is  completely  silted  up. 


42  TWIXT   SAND    AND    SEA 

land  only  by  a  narrow  isthmus.  Here  the  Cartha- 
ginians entrenched  themselves,  and  the  Romans, 
although  they  blockaded  the  city  and  soon  starved 
it  into  surrender,  were  unable  to  dislodge  them. 

The  year  35i  B.C.  was  the  turning-point  of  the 
war.  After  deceiving  strong  reinforcements  from 
Africa,  the  Carthaginians  made  a  determined  effort 
to  recover  the  city.  In  this  endeavour  they  were 
foiled  and  utterly  defeated,  and  the  triumph  accorded 
to  the  Roman  general,  L.  Coecilius  Metellus,  was 
adorned  with  their  elephants.  The  Carthaginian 
commander,  Hasdrubal,  escaped  to  Carthage,  only" 
to  suffer  there  the  death  which  was  the  ordinary  fate 
of  the  defeated. 

The  Carthaginians  now  sued  for  peace  and  an 
exchange  of  prisoners.  In  hope  of  securing  more 
favourable  terms  from  the  Romans,  they  sent  Regulus 
to  plead  for  them.  But  they  had  mistaken  their 
man.  Refusing  to  enter  the  Senate,  or  even  Rome, 
he  told  the  Senators  who  were  sent  to  confer  with  him, 
that  men  who  had  allowed  themselves  to  be  taken 
prisoners  were  worthless  and  did  not  deserve  ransom, 
and  exhorted  the  Romans  to  grant  no  terms  of  peace, 
but  to  press  the  war  to  the  bitter  end.  Then,  taking 
leave  of  his  friends  and  family,  he  returned  calmly 
to  Carthage,  in  accordance  with  his  promise,  to  face 
the  unspeakable  torture  prepared  for  him.^ 

This  happened  in  the  year  250  B.C.  Three  years 
later,  in  247  B.C.,  Hannibal  was  born. 

For  nine  years  longer  the  war  in  Sicily  was  con- 
tinued by  the  genius  of  Hamilcar  Barcas,-  who  now 
appears  on  the  scene  for  the  first  time  as  a  young 

1  The  scene  inspired   Horace   {Carm.   iii.  5)  with  some  of  the  noblest 
verses  he  ever  wrote.     The  truth  of  the  story  is  very  doubtful. 
*  Barcas  =  Barak  =  Lightning. 


THE    SWORD    AND    THE    TRIDENT       43 

man  of  about  twenty  years  of  age.  In  247  B.C.,  with 
a  small  force  of  raw,  half-savage  mercenaries,  he  seized 
Ercte  (Monte  Pellegrino),  and  for  three  years  baffled  all 
the  efforts  of  the  Romans  to  dislodge  him.  He  then, 
244  B.C.,  moved  with  troops  which  had  now  become  a 
formidable  army,  to  the  relief  of  Drepanum  (Trapani), 
which  was  closely  blockaded  by  the  Romans.  Seizing 
the  town  of  Eryx,  on  the  mountain  of  the  same  name, 
he  entrenched  himself  there,  and  by  means  of  his 
fleet  established  communications  with  the  beleaguered 
town.  Had  he  been  adequately  supported  by  Carthage, 
he  might  have  made,  by  sea,  that  attack  upon  Rome 
herself  which  his  son  was  obliged  to  attempt  by  the 
long  and  arduous  overland  march  from  Spain.  For 
two  years  longer  he  maintained  himself  on  his  mountain 
fastness. 

Then  came  the  end.  In  242  B.C.,  the  Romans 
despatched  an  overwhelming  fleet  under  the  Consul 
Gains  Lutatius  Catulus.  He  himself  was  wounded 
in  an  engagement  off  Syracuse,  but  on  March  10 
of  the  following  year  his  Praetor,  Publius  Valerius 
Catulus,  forced  the  Carthaginian  fleet  which  had 
been  sent  to  relieve  Drepanum  to  accept  battle  off 
the  island  of  iEgusa  (Favignano),  and  won  a  brilliant 
and  decisive  victory  which  rendered  the  cause  of 
Carthage  in  Sicily  desperate.  After  crucifying  their 
defeated  admiral,  the  Carthaginians  sent  orders  to 
Hamilcar  to  make  peace  on  the  best  terms  he  could 
get.  By  these  conditions  they  were  compelled  to 
evacuate  Sicily,  to  surrender  to  Rome  all  the  islands 
between  Sicily  and  Africa,  and  to  pay  a  war  indemnity 
of  three  thousand  two  hundred  talents  (£800,000)  in 
ten  years. 

Another  condition  was  that  Hamilcar  and  his 
army  should  pass  under  the   yoke.    This  Hamilcar 


44  TWIXT   SAND    AND    SEA 

flatly  refused  to  do.    The  matter  was  not  pressed,  and 
he  marched  out  with  all  the  honours  of  war.^ 

Three  years  later,  taking  advantage  of  the  domestic 
troubles  of  Carthage,  the  Romans  seized  Sardinia 
also,  at  the  invitation  of  the  Sardinians. 

Thus  ended  the  First  Punic  War,  in  the  year 
241  B.C. 

But  peace  with  Rome  did  not  bring  tranquillity 
to  Carthage. 

The  peace  party  was  now  in  the  ascendant  there 
and  when  Hamilcar  landed  with  his  twenty  thousan 
mercenaries,  his  command  was  taken  from  him  and 
given  to  his  bitter  enemy  Hanno.  While  holding 
Eryx,  Hamilcar  had  been  unable  to  pay  his  troops, 
and  long  arrears  were  due  to  them.  These  arrears 
Hanno  refused  to  pay.  A  furious  mutiny  at  once 
broke  out,  headed  by  Spendius,  a  fugitive  slave  from 
Campania,  and  Matho,  an  African  who  had  distin- 
guished himself  greatly  in  the  war.  As  usual,  the 
mutineers  were  at  once  joined  by  the  neighbouring 
tribes,  and  a  war  broke  out  which  lasted  for  three 
years,  and  brought  Carthage  more  than  once  to  the 
brink  of  destruction.  Through  the  incapacity  of 
Hanno,  defeat  and  disaster  followed  one  another  in 
rapid  succession.  Tunis  was  taken,  and  Carthage 
itself  attacked.  At  last  Hanno  was  superseded,  and 
the  command  restored  to  Hamilcar.  The  magic  of 
his  genius  and  his  well-known  character  for  probity 
brought  many  of  the  mutineers  back  to  their  duty, 
and  enabled  him  to  secure  the  aid  of  the  Numidian 
sheiks,  and  so  threaten  the  enemy  in  front  and  rear. 
Tunis  was  retaken,  Matho  utterly  defeated,  and  his 
army,  to  the  number,  it  is  said,  of  forty  thousand, 

^  He   had,   however,   to   pay   a    ransom    of    eit|hteen    denarii    (twelve 
shillings)  per  head  for  his  men. 


i 


THE    SWORD    AND    THE    TRIDENT       45 

driven  back  into  the  mountains  and  hemmed  in  a 
defile  known  by  the  name  of  the  Hatchet,  to  the  east 
of  Bou  Kornein.  Seeing  that  success  or  even  escape 
was  hopeless,  Spendius  now  tried  to  come  to  terms. 
With  nine  others  of  the  principal  leaders  of  the  mutiny, 
he  met  Hamilcar.  They  were  received  with  the  utmost 
courtesy ;  the  only  condition  Hamilcar  made  was  that 
ten  men  whom  he  should  name  should  be  surrendered 
to  him.  Astonished  at  such  clemency,  they  at  once 
consented.  "  Then  I  name  you,"  was  the  reply,  and 
they  were  at  once  seized  and  sent  to  Carthage. 

In  despair  the  mutineers  prepared  for  a  desperate 
resistance.  When  their  supplies  were  exhausted,  it 
is  said  that  they  ate  their  prisoners.  At  last,  worn 
out  with  fatigue  and  starvation,  they  could  hold  out 
no  longer,  and  were  trampled  to  death  beneath  the 
feet  of  Hamilcar' s  elephants. 

Thus,  in  the  year  238  B.C.,  ended  the  War  of  the 
Mercenaries,  known  as  the  Truceless  War. 

The  First  Punic  War,  or,  as  the  Romans  called 
it,  the  Sicilian  War,  had  ended  inconclusively.  For 
twenty-three  years  it  had  dragged  on,  with  varying 
success,  but,  on  the  whole,  greatly  to  the  disadvantage  of 
Carthage.  Sicily,  Sardinia,  and  Malta  were  lost  to  her, 
and  the  Mediterranean  was  no  longer  a  Carthaginian 
lake,  a  mare  clausum,  as  she  had  striven  to  make  it. 

This  was  much,  but  the  moral  results  in  the  loss 
of  prestige  were  much  more  serious  and  far-reaching. 
Rome  had  learnt  two  lessons — that  it  was  not  enough 
for  the  one  mailed  fist  to  wield  the  Trident,  unless  the 
other  grasped  the  Sword  ;  and,  further,  that  the  hold 
of  Carthage  on  that  Trident  was  not  so  firm  but  that 
it  might  be  wrung  from  her.  She  had  pricked  the 
bubble  of  Punic   supremacy  at   sea.     She  had  done 


46  'TWIXT   SAND    AND    SEA 

what  Blake  did  for  England  when  he  formed  her  first 
navy,  marched  his  soldiers  on  board,  and  swept  Van 
Tromp  and  the  invincible  Dutch  from  the  sea.  She 
had  learnt  that  she  need  not  fear  to  meet  even  the 
terrible  sea-captains  of  Carthage  on  even  terms.  The 
glamour  of  fear  of  Carthage,  which  rested  on  all  who  I 
haunted  the  sea,  was  gone  for  ever.  I 

A  peace  made  after  so  inconclusive  a  war  could 
be  little  more  than  a  truce,  and  the  breathing- 
space  was  short.  In  238  B.C.,  Hamilcar  Barcas, 
fresh  from  his  tremendous  vengeance  on  the  Merce- 
naries,^ landed  in  Spain.  His  business  was  to  thwart 
Roman  enterprise  in  the  peninsula,  and  to  build  up 
there  an  empire  which  should  compensate  Carthage 
for  what  she  had  lost  elsewhere.  With  him  he  took 
his  son-in-law,  Hasdrubal,  and  his  little  son  Hannibal, 
a  boy  of  nine  years  old,  who  had  just  taken,  at  the 
altar  of  God,  the  oath  of  undying  hatred  of  Rome 
which  he  so  faithfully  kept.  "  When  my  father, 
Hamilcar,"  so  he  said  to  Antiochus  long  afterwards, 
''  was  setting  out  for  the  war  in  Spain,  he  called  me  to 
him  and  bade  me  lay  my  hand  on  the  sacrifice  and 
swear  before  the  altar  that  I  would  never  make  peace 
with  Rome  (nuitquam  esse  in  amicitia  cum  Romanis). 
I  took  that  vow,  and  have  kept  it."  ^ 

In  nine  years  Hamilcar  had  subdued  all  south  of 
the  Tagus  ;  then  he  fell  in  battle  (229  B.C.).  His 
son-in-law,  Hasdrubal,  took  his  place,  and  continued 
his  course  of  conquest  with  little  effectual  opposition 
from  the  Romans,  who  were  hampered  by  the  invasion 
of  the  Gauls.  Eight  years  after  the  death  of  Hamilcar, 
after  founding  New  Carthage  (Carthagena)  and  sub- 

'  Perhaps  it  would  be  nearer  the  truth  to  say,  "  on  the  natives  who  had 
joined  the  Mercenaries." 
2  Polyb.  iii.  ii. 


THE    SWORD    AND    THE    TRIDENT       47 

duing  all  the  country  south  of  the  Ebro,  Hasdrubal 

was  murdered  (321   B.C.)   and  the  command  passed 

into  the  hands  of  Hannibal,  now  a  young  man  of 
j  twenty-six — one  of  the  two  or  three  men  of  supreme 

military   and   administrative   genius   that   the   world 

has  seen. 

Unable   to   deny   his   greatness   as   a  soldier   and 

leader  of  men,  the  Roman  historians  have  striven  to 
j  belittle  him  by  accusing  him  of  savage  cruelty  and  a 
I  more  than  Punic  perfidy.  To  establish  the  latter 
I  charge  they  have  been  able  to  produce  no  evidence 
I  whatever.  Of  cruelty  they  adduce  one  instance  :  After 
!  the  battle  of  Cannae,  some  young  Roman  prisoners  were 
i  set — no  unusual  thing — to  fight  against  one  another, 
I  the  survivors  being  promised  their  freedom  ;    on  their 

refusal  to  fight  they  were  all  put  to  death  with  torture. 
'  But  such  barbarity  seems  to  have  been  exceptional. 

As  a  rule,  Hannibal's  treatment  of  his  prisoners  was 
I  not  marked  by  unnecessary  rigour,  while,  in  his  respect 
'  for  the  dead,  his  conduct  contrasts  very  favourably 

with  that  of  the  Romans  themselves.  The  best  witness 
I  to  his  genius  and  to  his  personality  is  that  he  never 
I  lost  a  battle  in  all  his  long  Italian  campaign,  and  that, 

although  his  army  was  a  mixed  multitude  of  barbarians 
I  of  all  nations  and  languages,  and  had  been  fighting, 
!  without  rest,  for  sixteen  years,  they  never  failed  him 
i  or  murmured,  and  he  never  had  to  quell  a  mutiny.^ 
j  Recognising  that,  if  Rome  was  to  be  conquered, 
:  he  must  strike  at  the  heart,  Hannibal  determined  to 

force  on  a  new  war.     For  this  purpose  he  attacked 

I  *  Two  criticisms  have  been  passed  upon  Hannibal's  strategy  ;  that  he 
did  not  keep  up  his  lines  of  communication,  and  that  he  did  not  press  home 
his  successes.     If  the  view  taken  in  the  text,  that  he  considered  Carthage  as 

1  his  base,  be  correct,  the  blame  for  the  former  error  should  rest  on  her  rather 
than  on  him.     The  second  criticism  seems  to  be  just.     His   tactics  are 

I  generally  recognised  as  faultless. 


48  'TWIXT   SAND    AND    SEA 

Saguntum,  219  B.C.,  a  city  which,  though  south  of  thej 
Ebro,  and  therefore  witliin  the  sphere  of  Punic  occupa-'j 
tion,  was  in  close  alhance  with  Rome.  When  am- 
bassadors arrived  from  Rome  to  complain,  he  coldly 
referred  them  to  Carthage,  and,  continuing  his  opera- 
tions, took  and  sacked  the  town.  Arrived  at  Carthage, 
the  envoys  found  that,  after  nearly  twenty  years  of 
peace  and  of  careful  husbanding  of  their  resources, 
the  temper  of  the  Poeni  was  changed,  and  they  were 
now  as  eager  for  war  as  once  they  had  been  clamorous 
for  peace.  Unable  to  obtain  satisfaction,  the  Roman 
envoy  gathered  his  toga  into  a  fold  and  said,  "  Here 
we  bring  you  peace  or  war — take  which  you  please." 
*'  Give  us  whichever  you  like,"  was  the  answer.  *'  Then 
take  war."  "We  accept  it  gratefully."  Thus  in  the 
year  218  B.C.,  began  the  Second  Punic  War. 

Hannibal's  plan  of  campaign  was  as  simple  as  it 
was  daring.  To  transfer  the  seat  of  war  to  Italy; 
to  raise  the  country,  only  half  subdued  and  wholly 
unreconciled  to  the  yoke  of  Rome  ;  to  attack  Rome 
herself  if  possible  ;  if  not,  to  push  on  to  the  south 
and  join  hands  with  Carthage  across  the  narrow  seas 
between  South  Italy  and  Africa. 

So  audaciou^s  a  plan  depended  for  its  success  upon 
the  rapidity  with  which  it  was  carried  out.  The 
command  in  Spain  he  entrusted  to  his  brother,  Has- 
drubal  Baxcas,  and  left  with  him  the  entire  fleet  and 
fifteen  thousand  soldiers.  Late  in  May,  218  B.C., 
he  left  Carthagena  with  an  army  of  ninety  thousand 
men,  and  pressed  forward  to  the  north.  Overleaping 
the  Pyrenees,  he  evaded  the  Roman  Consul,  Cn. 
Scipio,  who  was  watching  the  mouth  of  the  Rhone, 
by  crossing  the  river  higher  up,  near  its  cbnfluence 
with  the  Isere.  Having  secured  the  friendship  of 
the  Gauls,  he  pushed  on  unhindered  to  the  foot  of  the 


THE    SWORD    AND    THE    TRIDENT       49 

Alps.  Late  in  the  autumn,  in  spite  of  the  frost  and 
snow  and  of  the  ceaseless  attacks  of  the  barbarians 
who  hung  like  wolves  upon  his  flanks,  he  "  forced," 
to  use  Napoleon's^  word,  the  pass  of  the  Great  St. 
Bernard,  cutting  his  way  through  the  snow-drifts 
and  splitting,  so  we  are  told,  the  rocks  with  vinegar. 
It  was  the  greatest  military  achievement  of  his  great 
career,  but  it  cost  him  dear.  Two-thirds  of  the  army, 
and  all  his  elephants  save  one,-  were  left  behind  in 
the  awful  passes. 

Descending  into  Italy,  he  found  Scipio,  who  had 
crossed  from  Spain  by  sea,  waiting  to  intercept  him. 
Advancing  along  the  left  bank  of  the  Po,  he  encountered 
him  on  the  Ticinus,  and  the  war  opened  with  a  cavalry 
skirmish,  in  which  the  Romans  suffered  heavily. 
Scipio  himself  was  wounded,  and  was  only  saved  from 
death  by  his  young  son  Publius,  the  future  A^ricanus. 
A  dramatic  incident  indeed,  if  it  be  true,  for  the  two 
men  were  not  to  meet  again  until  they  stood  face  to 
face  at  Zama. 

Giving  the  enemy  no  time  to  recover,  Hannibal 
pressed  on,  fell  heavily  upon  the  other  Consul, 
Sempronius,  on  the  Trebia  and  defeated  him  also 
utterly.  Then  as  the  autumn  was  over,  he  went  into 
winter  quarters  among  the  Ligurian  Gauls.  It  was 
then,  in  the  swamps  of  the  Po,  that  he  contracted 
the  ophthalmia  which  cost  him  an  eye. 

In  the  following  spring,  Hannibal  left  his  quarters, 
gave  the  Consul  Flaminus  the  slip  at  Arretium  (Arezzo), 
ambushed  him  on  the  Lake  Thrasimene,  annihilated 
his  army,  and  Rome  lay,  apparently,  at  his  mercy. 

Then,  if  ever,  the  gods  fought  for  Rome,  and  she 

1  "  Hannibal  forced  the  Alps — I  turned  them." 
*  This,  we  are  told,  he  kept  for  his  own  riding  : 

"  Quum  Getula  ducem  portaret  bellua  luscum." — Juv.  x.  158. 

D 


50  TWIXT    SAND    AND    SEA 

saw  her  terrible  enemy  pass  without  venturing  to 
attack,  with  much  the  same  feehngs  as,  on  the  great 
day  of  England's  deliverance  from  Spain,^  Drake 
and  Hawkins  watched  the  Invincible  Armada  pass 
St.  Helen's,  and  knew  that  Spain  had  lost  her  chance, 
and  England  was  saved.  As  he  passed,  the  Dictator 
Quintus  Fabius  Maximus,  known  as  Cunctator,-  with 
a  new  army  closed  in  on  his  rear  ;  for  every  Roman 
was  a  soldier.  At  Cannae  (August  2,  216  B.C.)  the  lion 
turned  furiously  upon  the  wolves  and  rent  them  with 
a  carnage  that  was  never  forgotten  or  forgiven  ;  seventy 
thousand  out  of  an  army  of  seventy-six  thousand 
perished  in  the  awful  slaughter.  But  the  Senate, 
never  grander  than  on  that  day  of  deadly  peril,  merely 
thanked  the  defeated  Consul,  Terentius  Varro,  a 
plebeian  and  their  political  enemy,  for  not  despair- 
ing of  the  Republic,  and  prepared  for  fresh  efforts. 
Carthage  would  have  crucified  him.^ 

Again  the  road  to  Rome  was  open,  and  Maharbal, 
the  ablest  of  Hannibal's  lieutenants,  begged  to  be 
allowed  to  advance  at  once  with  the  cavalry.  ''  They 
shall  know  that  I  have  come  before  they  know  that 
I  am  coming  ;  within  five  days  you  shall  be  feast- 
ing on  the  Capitol."  But  permission  was  refused. 
''  Hannibal,"  said  Maharbal,  ''  you  know  how  to  win 
victories,  but  not  how  to  use  them."  * 

The  parallel  of  the  Armada  is  curiously  true  in 
another  detail.  Medina  Sidonia  did  not  dare  attempt 
to  land  without  reinforcements,  and  so  pressed  on  to 

1  August  4,  A.D.  1588. 

^  "Unushomonobiscunctando  restituit  rem." — Ennius(quotedby  Vergil). 

'  The  aristocratic  Consul,  ^milius  Paulus,  refused  battle,  but  the 
Consuls  commanded  on  alternate  days,  and  Varro  accepted.  Paulus  was 
amongst  the  killed. 

*  "  Ut  prius  venisse  quam  venturum  sciant." 
"  Vincere  scis,  Hannibal,  victoria  uti  nescis." — Livy,  xxii.  51. 


THE    SWORD    AND    THE    TRIDENT       51 

Calais,  only  to  find  that  since  the  death  of  Mary  Stuart 
France  had  changed  her  mind,  and  no  help  was  ready 
for  him  ;  so  was  it  now  with  Hannibal.  For  thirteen 
years  (216-203  B.C.)  he  held  his  gromid  in  South  Italy, 
never  defeated,  it  is  true,  but  winning  useless  victories, 
with  a  dwindling  army,  and  always  looking  in  vain 
for  help  from  Carthage  which  never  came.  Capua 
was  his  Khartoum. 

Once  (B.C.  212)  he  marched  on  Rome,  hoping  to 
draw  off  the  Roman  force  which  was  besieging  Capua. 
In  his  camp  on  the  Anio,  three  miles  from  the  city, 
Hannibal  was  told  how  the  place  where  his  feet  stood 
had  been  bought  for  its  full  value  in  open  market, 
just  as  Jeremiah  purchased  the  field  of  Hananiah  in 
Anathoth  when  the  Assyrians  were  encamped  there. 
But  the  tide  had  turned.  "  God  once  gave  me  the 
chance  of  taking  the  city,  but  not  the  will;  now  I 
have  the  will,  but  not  the  chance."  ^  He  made  a  futile 
demonstration  against  the  Capuan  Gate  and  retired. 

Once,  also,  his  brother  Hasdrubal  made  an  effort  to 
relieve  him  (208-7  B.C.),  and  advanced  from  Spain 
into  Italy  ;  but  the  despatches  telling  of  his  approach 
fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Consul  Nero,  Forsaking 
his  duty  of  watching  Hannibal,  and  marching  day 
and  night,  he  joined  the  other  Consul  Livius  on  the 
Metaurus,  gave  instant  battle  to  Hasdrubal,  defeated 
and  killed  him,  hurried  back  and  flung  his  head  into 
the  camp  of  Hannibal  as,  to  use  Danton's  tremendous 
words,  Rome's  ''  gage  of  battle."  Hannibal  realised 
that  the  last  hope  of  Carthage  had  died  with  his 
brother.^ 

^  "  Modo  mentem  non  dari,  modo  fortunam." — Livy,  xxvi.  ii. 
-  "  Occidit,  occidit 
Spes  omnis  et  Fortuna  nostri 

Nominis  Hasdrubale  interempto." — Hon,  Cart/i.  iv.  4. 


52  TWIXT   SAND    AND    SEA 

Meanwhile  Rome  was  not  content  merely  to  keep 
Hannibal  at  bay.  What  the  Carthaginians  could 
attempt  in  Italy^  that  P.  Scipio  undertook  to  do  in 
Africa. 

Elected  as  ^Edile  in  212  B.C.,  he  was  sent  two  years 
later  as  general  to  Spain.  There  his  masterly  strategy 
enabled  him  to  take  Carthagena  and  defeat  the  in- 
competent generals  who  had  succeeded  Hasdrubal ; 
while  his  firm  and  generous  policy,  and,  above  all, 
his  absolute  good  faith,  gave  him  unbounded  influence 
over  the  native  chiefs.  By  the  year  207  B.C.,  little 
remained  in  the  hands  of  Carthage  save  Gades 
(Cadiz).  Passing  over  into  Africa,  Scipio  visited 
Syphax,  King  of  the  Massesylians,  at  Cirta,  and 
sought  to  win  his  alliance  for  Rome.  It  is  said 
that  he  there  met  Hasdrubal  Giscon,  whom  he 
had  defeated  in  Spain,  and  that  the  two  noble 
enemies  parted  with  mutual  respect  and  liking.  The 
hand  of  Sophonisba,  the  beautiful  daughter  of  Has- 
drubal, kept  Syphax  faithful  to  Carthage,  but  cost 
her  the  allegiance  of  Masinissa,  the  great  Numidian 
chieftain,  to  whom,  it  is  said,  Sophonisba  had  been 
betrothed.  Scipio  returned  to  Spain,  in  part  thwarted, 
but  with  a  new  ally,  who  was  thenceforward  to  prove 
himself  the  faithful  and  indomitable  friend  of  Rome. 
During  his  absence  in  Africa  a  serious  insurrection 
and  mutiny  had  broken  out  in  Spain,  but  Scipio 
speedily  crushed  both,  drove  the  Carthaginians  out  of 
their  last  stronghold  at  Gades,  and  returned  to  Rome, 
where,  in  206  B.C.,  in  spite  of  being  under  the  legal 
age,  he  was  elected  Consul  by  the  unanimous  voice 
of  the  people.  When  his  term  of  office  was  expired, 
he  chose  Sicily  as  his  province  (206  B.C.),  and  at  once 
prepared  to  carry  the  war  into  Africa. 

With  the  exception  of  Csesar,  Scipio  was  the  greatest 


THE    SWORD    AND    THE    TRIDENT       53 

general  and  citizen  that  Rome  ever  gave  birth  to.  In 
military  genius  a  worthy  rival  of  Hannibal,  he  was 
in  personal  character  gentle  and  miassuming,  loyal 
to  his  friends,  generous  to  his  enemies,  of  unimpeachable 
integrity,  cultured  and  refined.  It  was  well  for  Rome 
that,  at  the  great  crisis  of  her  history,  she  had  such  a 
son  to  guide  her  counsels  and  command  her  armies. 

And  now  the  weakness  of  Carthage  was  revealed 
indeed.  Crossing  over  into  Africa,  Scipio  wintered 
at  Utica,  where  he  was  joined  by  Masinissa.  Syphax, 
in  the  meantime,  was  playing  a  double  game.  In 
reality  the  influence  of  Sophonisba  kept  him  faithful 
to  Carthage,  and  his  army  was  practically  supporting 
hers.  Nominally,  however,  he  was  acting  as  inter- 
mediary between  the  two  enemies,  and  there  was,  at 
least,  a  truce  between  him  and  Scipio.  This  truce 
Scipio  was  persuaded  by  Masinissa  to  violate.  Divid- 
ing his  army  into  two  divisions,  one  under  himself  and 
one  under  Masinissa,  he  made  a  simultaneous  night 
attack  upon  the  camps  of  Syphax  and  Hasdrubal, 
and  burnt  them  both.  Two  decisive  battles  followed. 
Syphax  was  utterly  defeated  and  taken  prisoner, 
and  the  Carthaginians  were  driven  back  in  confusion 
on  their  base.  The  victory  was  complete,  but  the 
whole  transaction  rests  as  a  blot,  the  only  one,  on  the 
scutcheon  of  Scipio's  honour.^ 

Cirta  and  the  whole  kingdom  of  Syphax  were 
given  to  Masinissa ;  Carthage  was  invested  and  sued 
for  peace.  Terms  of  almost  incredible  moderation 
were  imposed  by  Scipio.  The  status  quo  was  to 
be  accepted  ;  Spain,  already  lost,  and  the  Balearic 
Islands  were  to  be  formally  ceded  to  Rome,  Masinissa 
was  to  be  recognised  and  left  undisturbed  at  Cirta  ; 

*  Syphax  died  in  captivity  before  the  triumph  of  Scipio.     For  the  fate  of 
Sophonisba,  see  Part  II.,  Chapter  III. 


54  'TWIXT    SAND    AND    SEA  | 

all  vessels  of  war,  save  ten,  were  to  be  surrendered,  a 
war  indemnity  of  five  thousand  talents  (£1,000,000) 
was  to  be  paid  ;  all  prisoners  and  deserters  were  to 
be  delivered  up. 

These  terms  were  formally  accepted  by  the  Cartha- 
ginian envoys  and  a  truce  declared,  while  the  consent 
of  the  respective  governments  was  being  obtained. 

Too  late,  Carthage  repented  of  her  desertion  of 
the  one  man  who  might  have  saved  her.  Hannibal 
and  his  brother  Magon  were  recalled.  For  three  years, 
205-3  B.C.,  Magon  had  been  fighting  in  North  Italy, 
striving  in  vain  to  effect  a  junction  with  his  brother 
in  the  south,  or  at  least  to  create  a  diversion.  He 
had  taken  Genoa,  but  in  a  battle  near  Milan  he  had 
been  seriously  wounded,  and  although  he  obeyed  the 
summons  of  Carthage,  he  died  on  the  voyage. 

After  killing  such  of  his  Italian  soldiers  as  refused 
to  accompany  him,  Hannibal  also  obeyed  ;  the  Romans 
were  too  glad  to  see  the  last  of  their  unconquerable 
enemy,  to  do  anything  to  hinder  his  departure.  The 
Senate  celebrated  the  event  by  presenting  a  wreath 
of  grass,  the  highest  honour  they  could  accord  to  any 
man,  to  Quintus  Fabius  Cunctator,  now  an  old  man 
of  ninety  years,  the  only  man  who  had  passed  through 
those  awful  years  of  peril  with  credit.  Fabius  died 
in  the  same  year. 

And  so,  after  thirty  years  of  splendid  service, 
Hannibal  returned  to  the  ungrateful  country  which 
had  forsaken  and  ruined  him.  Weary  and  worn  with 
service,  maimed — for,  like  Nelson,  he  had  lost  an  eye 
in  the  swamps  of  the  Upper  Po — his  spirit  crushed 
by  disappointed  hopes,  and  the  strain  of  the  long 
agony  he  had  endured,  he  landed  at  Leptis  with  the 
shattered  remains  of  his  invincible  army. 

For   the   moment   the   spirits   and   hopes   of   the 


THE    SWORD    AND    THE   TRIDENT       55 

Carthaginians  revived.  They  repudiated  the  terms 
of  peace  which  they  had  just  accepted;  a  Roman 
transport  fleet  was  treacherously  attacked  and  plun- 
dered, and  a  warship,  with  the  Roman  envoys  on 
board,  was  seized.  But  it  was  hoping  against  hope. 
Hannibal's  army  consisted  chiefly  of  raw  levies,  his 
elephants  were  wild  brutes  untrained  for  war,  and  more 
dangerous  to  friend  than  foe.  With  such  materials 
even  his  genius  was  unable  to  cope  with  the  seasoned 
soldiers  of  Rome,  led  by  such  a  general  as  Scipio. 
The  issue  could  not  be  doubtful.^  In  the  spring  of 
202  B.C.,  the  two  great  commanders  who  had  parted 
on  the  Ticinus  met  again  at  Zama,  near  Sicca 
Veneria  (Kef),  ''  five  days'  march  west  of  Carthage." " 
The  defeat  of  Hannibal  was  utter  and  complete. 
With  a  handful  of  followers  he  made  his  way  to  Had- 
rumetum,  and  so  to  Carthage,  and  advised  the  citizens 
to  make  the  best  terms  they  could  with  the  exas- 
perated Romans. 

These  terms  were  naturally  harder  than  the 
former.  In  addition  to  these,  the  Carthaginians 
were  to  pay  an  annual  tribute  of  two  hundred  talents 
(;f48,ooo)  for  fifty  years  ;  they  were  not  to  wage  war 
outside  Africa,  and,  in  Africa,  they  were  not  to  advance 
beyond  their  own  territory,  or  make  war  without  the 
permission  of  Rome,  or  on  the  allies  of  Rome. 

By  Hannibal's  advice  these  terms  were  accepted. 
Scipio  returned  in  triumph  to  Rome,  and  for  a  time 
the  land  had  rest. 

Thus  ended  the  Second  Punic  War.  It  had  lasted 
seventeen  years,  from  218-201  B.C. 

^  A  dramatic  story  is  told  by  Polybius  of  an  interview  between  the  two 
generals  at  Naragara  ;  it  was  not,  however,  found  possible  to  come  to  terms 
(Polyb.  XV.  5). 

^  Polyb.  XV.  5.     The  site  of  Zama  is  unknown. 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  MAILED  FIST,  201-146  b.c. 

The  position  of  Carthage  was  humiliating,  almost  in- 
tolerable, but  not  desperate.  Hannibal  was  still  alive 
and  soon  proved  himself  not  less  able  as  a  reformer 
and  administrator  than  he  had  formerly  shown  himself 
as  a  general.  Under  his  stern  and  impartial  rule 
justice  was  once  more  dispensed,  the  revenue  was 
honestly  collected,  abuses  repressed,  the  finances 
reorganised,  and  the  laws  enforced.  The  heavy  war 
indemnity  laid  upon  Carthage  by  the  Senate  was  paid 
off  in  less  than  half  the  time  allowed,  and  generally 
the  recovery  of  Carthage  was  so  rapid  as  to  arouse 
once  more  the  jealous  fears  of  Rome.  Owing  to  her 
matchless  position  and  great  traditions,  her  trade  and 
population,  and  with  these  her  wealth  and  importance, 
increased  by  leaps  and  bounds.  To  Rome,  the  very 
existence  of  Carthage  seemed  a  constant  threat. 
She  had  never  considered  the  conditions  of  peace 
sufficiently  onerous  ;  now  she  became  alarmed,  and 
although  Hannibal  had  always  honourably  observed 
the  terms  of  peace,  the  Senate  demanded  that  he  should 
be  dismissed  and  surrendered  to  them.  Carthage 
was  utterly  unable  to  refuse,  and  so,  to  save  himself, 
Hannibal  fled  from  the  city  he  had  served  only  too 
well,  and  disappears  from  our  sight. 

Meanwhile  Carthage  had  other  troubles,  even 
more  pressing  and  immediate,  to  deal  with.  Masinissa, 
restored  to  his  kingdom  at  Cirta  (Constantine),  found 

in  the  weakness  of  his  enemy,  an  excellent  opportunity 

56 


THE    MAILED    FIST  57 

for  pajdng  off  old  scores  and  enlarging  his  borders 
at  her  expense.  In  160  B.C.  he  seized  the  province 
of  Emporia,  on  the  Lesser  Syrtes,  and  when  Carthage 
appealed  to  Rome,  the  commissioners  sent  to  deal 
with  the  matter  not  only  confirmed  him  in  pos- 
session of  the  territory  he  had  seized,  but  ordered 
Carthage  to  pay  him  five  hundred  talents  (£120,000) 
in  addition. 

Encouraged  by  this,  Masinissa  proceeded,  157  B.C., 
to  seize  Tusca  and  the  fertile  plains  watered  by  the 
Bagradas.     Again   Carthage  appealed   to    Rome,  and 
a  second  commission  was  sent,  not  to  arbitrate,  but 
to   adjudicate.     When   Carthage   demanded   that,   as 
matter  of  simple  justice,   the  question   of  her  legal 
right  to  the   territory  should   be  inquired  into,  the 
commissioners  at  once  returned  to  Rome  and  reported 
i  the  contumacy  of  the  hated  town.      The  chairman 
i  of  the  commission  was  Marcus  Cato,  and  so  impressed 
!  was  he  by   what   he   saw   of  the   wealth   and   pros- 
perity of  Carthage,  that  he  made  the  destruction  of 
,  the  city  the  single  aim  of  his  policy.     We  are  told 
'  that,  from  the  time  of  his  return,  he  ended  every  speech 
!  he  made  with  the  words,  Delenda  est  Carthago,  "  Car- 
thage must  be  blotted  out,"  and  the  cry  was  taken  up 
j  by  Scipio  Nasica,  a  near  relative  of  Africanus.     One 
1  day  Cato  brought  into  the  Senate  a  basket  full  of 
I  ripe  figs  which  had  come  from  Carthage,  to  remind 
i  the  Senators  how  near,  within  three  days'  journey, 
the  dreaded  rival  was. 

At  last  the  continual  and  unprovoked  aggressions 
of  Masinissa,  and  the  refusal  of  Rome  to  interfere, 
or  even  abide  by  the  conditions  of  peace,  compelled 
Carthage  to  arm  in  self-defence.  Masinissa  reported 
this  to  Rome,  referred  the  whole  matter  to  the  Senate, 
and  continued  his  attacks.    The  battle  which  ensued. 


58  'TWIXT   SAND    AND    SEA 

151  B.C.,  was  witnessed  by  a  young  military  tribune 
who  had  been  sent  from  Spain  to  collect  elephants 
for  the  army.  He  was  grandson  of  iEmilius  Paulus, 
but  upon  being  adopted  into  the  family  of  the  Scipios 
by  his  uncle,  the  eldest  son  of  Africanus,  he  had  taken 
their  name,  by  which  he  is  always  known.  He  saw 
the  shock  of  battle,  he  saw  Masinissa,  now  an  old 
man  of  eighty-eight  years,  vault  upon  his  bare-backed 
steed  and  charge  at  the  head  of  the  matchless  Numidian 
cavalry,  and  was  delighted  with  the  sight.  Nobody 
but  the  gods  in  heaven,  he  wrote  home,  had  ever 
seen  anything  so  beautiful. 

In  spite  of  his  defeat,  Hasdrubal  continued  the 
war,  but  at  last,  his  army  wasted  with  disease  and 
famine,  he  was  compelled  to  accept  whatever  terms 
Masinissa  chose  to  offer  him.  One  of  these  was  that 
the  army  should  pass  through  the  enemy's  camp 
unarmed,  and  the  men  with  but  one  garment  apiece. 
As  they  went,  they  were  treacherously  attacked  and 
massacred ;  only  a  few,  including  Hasdrubal  himself, 
escaped  to  tell  the  tale  in  Carthage. 

But  Hasdrubal's  troubles  were  not  yet  over.  In 
the  extremity  of  their  terror  and  perplexity,  the 
Carthaginians  condemned  to  death  both  him  and 
Corbulo,  the  governor  of  the  city  whose  plea  for 
justice  had  ended  so  disastrously,  and  despatched 
an  embassy  to  Rome,  imploring  pardon  and  laying 
the  whole  blame  upon  them.  Hasdrubal  saved  him- 
self by  flight. 

The  end  was  now  drawing  near.  Rome  had  ac- 
cepted the  dictum  of  Cato,  and  made  the  destruction 
of  Carthage  the  keystone  of  her  policy.  It  was  true 
that  Carthage  had  been  wilfully  attacked  by  Masi- 
nissa, and,  like  the  hippopotamus,  had  shown  her- 
self   tres   mechante,   only  in   that   she   had   defended 


THE    MAILED    FIST  59 

herself  against  his  unprovoked  assaults  ;  it  was  true 
also  that  she  had  been  defeated.  Still,  she  had  ven- 
tured to  resist  the  ally  of  Rome,  and,  in  her  present 
temper,  that  was  enough  to  enable  Rome  to  resort 
to  arms.  Indeed  there  was  another  reason.  It  was 
one  thing  to  humble  Carthage  ;  it  was  quite  another 
to  allow  a  troublesome,  and  possibly  even  dangerous, 
ally  to  increase  his  power  and  empire  at  her  expense. 

When  one  power  has  determined  to  attack  another, 
it  has  never  been  found  difficult  to  make  or  invent 
a  pretext ;  and  now  Rome  had  found  an  excuse  for 
doing  what  her  mind  was  set  upon.  Then  came 
another  inducement.  Utica,  still  smarting  under  the 
supremacy  of  her  younger  sister,  sent  an  embassy  to 
Rome,  put  herself  unreservedly  at  her  disposal,  and, 
in  fact,  became  the  basis  of  operations  in  the  war 
which  soon  followed. 

Meanwhile,  until  Rome  was  ready  to  begin,  dip- 
lomatic  negotiations   were   kept   up   with   Carthage. 
In  149  B.C.  a  last  embassy  was  sent  by  the  terrified 
Poeni  with  unlimited  powers  to  accept  any  terms  that 
might  be  imposed.     "  What  do  you  want  us  to  do  ?  " 
they  asked.     "  You  must  satisfy  the  Roman  people." 
But  how  ?  "     "  That  you  already  know."     And  with 
;  this  answer  they  had  to  be  content.     The  news  that 
i  the  Roman  fleet  had  sailed  was  the  first  intimation 
j  vouchsafed  to  Carthage  that  war  had  been  declared. 
I        Still  one  more  despairing  effort  was  made.     Three 
hundred  hostages,  the  children  of  the  noblest  families, 
were  demanded,   and  surrendered  to   the  Consul   at 
'  Lilyboeum.     In  return  a  promise  was  given  that  the 
Carthaginians   should   be   left   free   and   retain   their 
I  land ;    of   the   city   nothing   was   said.     The   details 
:  were  to  be  settled  when  the  Consuls  landed  in  Africa. 
Thus  began  the  third,  and  last  Punic  War. 


I  (( 


6o  'TWIXT    SAND    AND    SEA 

Much  had  changed  since  Zama  and  all  the  greal 
protagonists  had  passed  away.  The  fierce  old  fighterj 
Masinissa,  had  died  at  last,  at  the  age  of  ninety  years 
leaving  a  child  of  four  ^ — just  too  soon  to  see  the  down- 
fall of  Carthage.  Scipio,  the  great  Africanus,  had 
died  dishonoured  and  almost  in  exile  at  his  home 
in  Campania,  refusing  with  his  last  breath  to  allow 
his  bones  to  be  laid  in  the  sepulchre  of  his  fathers  on 
the  Appian  Way,  outside  the  gate  of  the  ungrateful 
city.  ''  Ingrata  Patria,  ne  ossa  quidem  habebis."  Such 
was  the  epitaph  he  desired  to  have  engraved  on  his 
tomb.     The  ring — 

"  Cannarum  vindex,  et  tanti  sanguinis  ultor  "  ^ — 

had  done  its  work,  and  Hannibal  had  died  by  his 
own  hand,  in  exile,  at  the  court  of  Prusias  in  Bithynia, 
183  B.C.,  pursued  to  the  last  by  the  unrelenting  hatred, 
the  daughter  of  fear,  of  Rome. 

But  the  old  names  reappear.  Another  Hasdrubal 
ruled  in  Carthage,  and  another  Scipio  was  to  lead  the 
legions  of  Rome  to  victory  final  and  complete. 

The  two  Consuls,  Marcius  Manilius  and  Lucius 
Censorinus,  one  commanding  the  army,  the  other 
the  fleet,  landed  at  Utica  unopposed,  149  B.C.,  and 
the  Gerusia  of  Carthage  attended  in  a  body  to  know 
their  fate. 

The  first  orders  were  to  disarm  the  city,  to  sur- 
render not  only  the  tiny  fleet  left  her,  but  all  materials 
for  shipbuilding,  all  military  stores,  and  all  arms  in 
public  or  private  hands. 

This  was  agreed  to ;  all  the  ships,  all  the  dockyard 
stores,  three  thousand  catapults,  and  two  hundred 
thousand  suits  of  armour  were  delivered  up. 

Then,  with  a  perfidia  plusquam  Punicd,  Marcius 

^  Or  one  year  old.     C/.  Mommsen,  III.  vii.  *  Juvenal,  x.  165. 


THE    MAILED    FIST  6i 

Censorinus  pronounced  sentence.  The  Senate,  he 
said,  ordered  that  the  city  should  be  destroyed,  but 
the  inhabitants  were  left  at  liberty  to  build  another 
wherever  they  chose,  but  not  within  ten  miles  of 
the  sea. 

When  the  Gerusia  returned  with  the  fatal  news 
they  were  greeted  with  an  outburst  of  furious  resent- 
ment and  indignation,  which  recalls  that  aroused  by 
the  approach  of  Regulus.  The  gates  were  closed, 
public  and  private  buildings  were  destroyed,  the 
stones  were  carried  to  the  walls,  and  with  the  timbers 
new  catapults  were  constructed,  the  ladies  cutting 
off  their  hair  to  be  twisted  into  thongs  ;  and  when, 
after  a  few  days'  delay,  the  Romans  advanced  delibe- 
rately to  take  possession  of  a  defenceless  city,  they 
found  it  armed  and  prepared  for  resistance  to  the 
death. 

By  the  surrender  of  her  fleet,  Carthage  had  lost 
the  command  of  the  sea,  and  with  it  the  control  of 
the  isthmus  which  lay  between  the  city  walls  and 
the  mountains  of  the  Djebel  el  Ahmor,  the  first  line 
of  defence  with  which  nature  had  provided  her.  Still, 
the  natural  strength  of  her  position  and  her  almost 
impregnable  fortifications  made  the  task  of  the 
Romans  one  of  extreme  difficulty. 

The  city,  as  already  said,  occupied  a  triangular 
peninsula  at  the  end  of  the  isthmus.  Its  land  frontage 
from  Kamart  to  the  Ligula  was  about  six  miles  in 
length ;  its  two  sea  fronts,  from  Kamart  to  Cape 
Carthage,  and  from  Cape  Carthage  to  the  Ligula, 
were  about  four  miles  each. 

The  side  towards  the  isthmus  was  defended  by 
a  line  of  fortifications  so  vast  as  to  be  described  as 
a  camp  in  itself ;  but  about  its  exact  nature  there 
is  some  difference  of  opinion. 


62  'TWIXT    SAND    AND    SEA 

Appian  describes  it  as  a  "  triple  wall/'  each  wall 
being  of  the  same  height  as  the  others.  The  height 
of  the  curtain  of  these  walls,  not  including  the  battle- 
ments, was  forty-five  feet ;  the  thickness  was  thirty- 
three  feet.  At  every  two  hundred  yards  there  was  a 
tower  four  storeys  high.  The  wall  itself  was  divided 
into  two  storeys.  In  the  lower  were  stalls  and  pro- 
vender for  three  hundred  elephants  ;  in  the  upper, 
stabling  and  fodder  for  four  thousand  horses,  and 
barrack  accommodation  for  twenty-four  thousand 
men — four  thousand  cavalry,  and  twenty  thousand 
infantry. 

The  foundations  of  this  wall  have  been  discovered 
near  Byrsa,  at  a  depth  of  fifty  feet  below  the  present 
level  of  the  ground.  The  exact  dimensions,  as  given 
by  Beule,  who  conducted  the  excavations,  are  as 
follows  : — 

Thickness  of  the  outer  wall 
Corridor  ..... 

Thickness  of  front  wall  of  casemates 
Casemates        ..... 
Thickness  of  inner  wall  of  casemates 

33  feet. 

This  gives  a  total  of  thirty-three  feet,  and  cor- 
responds exactly  with  the  measurement  given  by 
Appian.  But  the  question  remains,  was  this  all  he 
meant  by  a  triple  wall,  each  wall  being  the  same 
height  ? 

Previous  to  the  excavations  of  Beule,  it  had  been 
generally  assumed  that  he  was  describing  defences 
like  those  which  are  known  to  have  existed  at  Thapsus, 
where,  at  a  distance  of  forty  yards  in  front  of  the  main 
wall,  ran  a  second,  fifteen  feet  high,  while  at  a  distance 
of   another   forty   yards   there  ran   a  bank   crowned 


.     6| 

feet 

.     6 

)) 

•     3i 

>> 

■    14 

>> 

•     3l 

)> 

i£fl 


THE    MAILED    FIST  63 

with  a  palisade — each  wall  being  protected  by  a  deep 
ditch.  But  of  these  outer  defences,  if  they  ever 
existed  at  Carthage,  no  trace  has  been  discovered  ; 
and,  in  any  case,  the  statement  that  the  three  walls 
were  of  the  same  height  would  be  unmeaning.  Momm- 
sen  therefore  concludes,  and  probably  correctly,  t' 
there  was  only  one  wall,  that  of  which  the  foundations 
have  been  discovered,  and  that  the  three  walls  of  which 
Appian  speaks  are  the  outer,  inner,  and  dividing 
walls  of  this  one  fortification.  Appian,  who  lived  in 
the  second  century  after  Christ,  had,  of  course,  never 
seen  the  walls,  and  Polybius,  from  whom  he  got  his 
information,  may  have  failed  him  on  this  point,  or 
been  misunderstood. 

Along  the  sea  front  from  Kamart,  round  by  Cape 
Carthage  to  the  height  now  crowned  by  Bordj-el- 
Djedid,  the  coast  is  mountainous,  and  a  single  wall 
of  circumvallation  was  considered,  and  ultimately 
proved  to  be,  protection  enough.  From  the  Bordj 
to  the  Ligula  ran  the  quays  of  the  city  proper. 

At  a  point  now  called  El  Kram,  just  above  what 
we  have  called  the  Ligula,  where  the  isthmus  narrows 
down  into  the  neck  of  land  which  shuts  in  the  Lake 
of  Tunis,  the  shore,  bending  sharply  to  the  east,  forms 
a  little  bay,  from  the  farther  point  of  which  ran  out 
a  great  breakwater.  Here  was  the  sheltered  entrance 
to  the  great  harbours,  which  covered  an  area  of  about 
seventy  acres.  The  entrance  was  closed  by  huge 
chains.  The  first  harbour  was  a  long  quadrilateral — 
this  was  for  the  mercantile  shipping  ;  from  this  another 
cutting  led  into  the  Cothon,  or  naval  port  and  dock- 
yard. Both  were  artificial,  like  those  at  Thapsus, 
Hadrumetum,  Utica,  and  Rusic'ade  (Philippeville), 
and  lay  parallel  to  the  seashore,  from  which  they 
were  separated  by  the  quays. 


64  TWIXT    SAND    AND    SEA 

The  inner,  and  more  interesting,  Cothon  was  round 
and  surrounded  by  two  hundred  and  twenty  docks, 
each  large  enough  to  hold  a  vessel  of  war.  At  the 
entrance  of  these  were  Ionic  columns,  so  that  the 
effect  was  that  of  one  vast  circular  arcade.  Behind 
lay  the  necessary  buildings  of  an  arsenal  or  dockyard, 
and  the  whole  was  enclosed  by  a  wall,  so  lofty  that 
no  one  in  the  town,  or  even  in  the  outer  harbour,  could 
watch  the  work  that  was  being  done  inside. 

In  the  centre  of  this  harbour  was  a  round  island 
connected  with  the  shore  by  a  jetty  to  the  north — 
that  is,  opposite  the  entrance.  On  this  stood  the 
admiral's  house,  from  which  rose  a  lofty  tower  com- 
manding a  full  view  of  the  city  and  of  the  sea.^ 

From  the  breakwater  to  the  foot  of  the  hill  now 
crowned  by  Bordj-el-Djedid,  a  distance  of  about  two 
and  a  half  miles,  stretched  the  quays.  How  they 
were  protected  we  are  not  told,  but  no  landing  was 
ever  effected  there,  or  even  attempted,  except  on  one 
occasion,  when  it  failed. 

From  the  end  of  the  quays,  under  the  Bordj-el- 
Djedid,^  started  the  two  lines  of  wall  which  constituted 
the  fortifications  of  the  city  proper.  The  first,  divid- 
ing the  city  from  the  vast  suburb  of  Megara,  met 
the  triple  wall  about  half-way  between  Kamart  and 
the  Ligula.  The  second  ran  to  Byrsa,  and  thence  to 
the  Ligula.  This  enclosed  what  may  be  called  the 
fortress  and  arsenal ;  the  whole  of  this  is  sometimes 
called  Byrsa,  just  as  both  harbours  are  sometimes 
included  under  the  name  of  Cothon. 

'  After  events,  in  the  course  of  the  siege,  seem  to  show  that  the  great 
triple  wall  was  carried  down  to  the  sea  between  the  harbours,  thus  leaving 
the  mercantile  harbour  unprotected  ;  but  this  seems  so  unlikely  on  other 
grounds,  that  it  is  better  to  leave  the  question  an  open  one. 

^  These  details  are  uncertain,  but  this  is  the  view  taken  by  Tissot  and 
Boissier. 


THE    MAILED    FIST  65 

The  population  of  the  city  was  about  seven  hundred 
thousand. 

The  army  outside  the  walls  was  commanded  by 
the  Hasdrubal  whose  defeat  by  Masinissa  has  been 
related.  Under  him,  as  his  lieutenant,  was  a  brilliant 
young  officer,  Hamilco  Phameas,  whose  audacity 
and  enterprise  made  him  the  most  dreaded  of  all 
the  Carthaginian  officers.^  The  command  inside  the 
city  was  entrusted  to  another  Hasdrubal,  grandson 
of  Masinissa.  Fortunately  we  are  saved  from  any 
danger  of  confusing  the  two  by  the  fact  that  this 
latter  was  soon  murdered  in  the  Senate  House,  at  the 

i  instigation  of  his  namesake  outside  the  city. 

!       Against   a   city   thus   fortified,   and   defended   by 

i  desperate  men,  the  Romans  were  for  a  long  time 
powerless.     ManiHus  attacked  the  city  from  the  land, 

I  but  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  two  of  his  engines  were 
so  huge  that  they  required  six  thousand  men  apiece 
to  work  them,  he  was  unable  to  make  a  practicable 

jbreach.^ 

I  By  sea  the  Carthaginians,  although  they  had 
surrendered  their  navy,  more  than  once  destroyed,  or 
seriously  damaged,  the  Roman  fleets  by  means  of 
fire-ships  ;  and,  when  the  wind  was  favourable,  their 
'allies  succeeded  continually  in  running  the  blockade, 

.  |and  kept  the  city  well  supplied  with  provisions. 
I  For  the  space  of  two  years  the  siege  dragged  on. 
Manilius  and  Censorinus  were,  in  due  course,  super- 
ceded by  Lucius  Piso  and  Lucius  Mancinus,  148  B.C., 
:3ut  with  no  better  effect.  The  Roman  army  still 
'ay  encamped  helplessly  before  the  city,  but  the  end 
seemed   no   nearer.     Discipline   became  relaxed,  and 

^  The  headquarters  were  at  Nepheris,  on  the  other  side  of  the  lake. 
*  They  were  called  the  Army  and  the  Navy,  from  the  men  who  worked 
Ihem. 

E 


66  TWIXT   SAND    AND    SEA 

such  assaults  as  were  delivered  did  more  harm  to  the 
attacking  party  than  to  the  defenders.  But  it  was 
not  the  way  of  Rome  to  look  back  when  she  had  on 
hand  a  piece  of  work  on  which  her  heart  was  set.  She 
knew,  or  believed,  that  Carthage  stood  between  her 
and  the  realisation  of  her  dreams  of  free  expansion 
of  trade,  and  of  the  naval  supremacy  which  she  con- 
sidered necessary  for  this  expansion  ;  and  so  Carthage 
must  go,  at  whatever  cost  to  herself. 

Still,  though  her  determination  never  wavered, 
her  patience  was  becoming  exhausted.  The  elections 
were  drawing  near,  and  young  Scipio  —  Publius 
Cornelius  Scipio  ^milianus  Africanus  Minor,  to  give 
him  for  once  the  full  name  and  title  by  which  he  was 
afterwards  known — who  had  been  serving  in  the 
African  army  as  military  tribune,  returned  to  Rome 
as  a  candidate  for  the  post  of  iEdile.  But  the  eyes 
and  hopes  of  Rome  were  fixed  upon  him  as  the  man 
who  should  bring  the  war  with  Carthage  to  a  triumphant 
conclusion.  He  had  won  his  spurs  in  Africa  as  well 
as  in  Spain.  He  had  earned  the  good  opinion  of 
Cato,  who,  in  the  Senate,  had  applied  to  him  the  words 
which  Homer  used  of  Tiresias,  "  He  only  is  a  living 
man — the  rest  are  empty  shadows."  Above  all,  he 
had  shown  that  by  his  tact  and  probity  he  could  win 
the  confidence  of  barbarians.  In  Spain,  it  was  said 
that  a  town  which  had  refused  to  surrender  to  the 
Consul,  opened  its  gates  willingly  to  him  ;  in  Africa 
he  had  gained  the  warm  friendship  and  unbounded 
confidence  of  the  wary  Masinissa,  who  had  appointed 
him  executor  of  his  will.  Though  under  the  legal 
age,  for  he  was  only  thirty-seven,  he  was  unanimously 
elected  Consul,  148  B.C.,  and,  although  by  law  the 
provinces  were  given  by  lot,  Africa  was  assigned  to 
liim.     This  was  in  the  year  147  B.C. 


THE    MAILED    FIST  67 

The  first  task  of  Scipio  on  his  arrival  in  Africa 
was  to  rescue  Mancinus  from  a  very  serious  difficulty. 
Naturally  anxious  to  win  some  signal  success  before 
his  term  of  command  expired,  the  Consul  delivered 
a  furious  attack  upon  the  city  and  succeeded  in 
penetrating  within  the  walls.  Once  there  he  found 
himself  equally  unable  to  advance  or  to  retire.  For 
some  unexplained  reason  his  colleague,  Piso,  made 
no  effort  to  relieve  him.  Had  it  not  been  for  the 
opportune  arrival  of  Scipio,  who  advanced  at  once 
to  his  assistance,  and  extricated  him  from  his  perilous 
position,  the  Roman  arms  would  have  sustained  a 
disastrous  defeat. 

The  two  outgoing  Consuls  then  returned  to  Rome, 
and  Scipio  assumed  supreme  command,  and  proceeded 
to  make  mistakes  on  his  own  account.  He  knew 
the  impatience  at  Rome,  and  was  at  least  as  anxious 
to  celebrate  his  arrival  by  some  great  feat  of  arms 
as  Mancinus  had  been  to  dignify  his  departure. 

There  were  two  weak  angles  in  the  defences  of 
Carthage,  the  one  on  the  Ligula,  the  other  at  the  foot 
of  Kamart,  where  the  triple  wall  ceased  and  gave 
place  to  the  single  wall  along  the  sea  front.  By  an 
act  of  almost  incredible  folly  or  self-confidence,  the 
Carthaginians  had  left  standing,  at  this  latter  point, 
the  tower  of  a  private  house,  higher  than  the  wall 
and  commanding  it.  From  the  top  of  this  tower 
some  Roman  soldiers  passed  to  the  wall,  descended 
into  Megara,  and  opened  a  neighbouring  gate  for  the 
Romans.  Scipio  entered  unopposed,  with  four  thou- 
sand men,  but  found  himself  in  the  same  position  as 
Mancinus.  Between  him  and  the  city  proper  lay  a 
maze  of  narrow  alleys  winding  between  the  lofty  walls 
of  villas  and  gardens,  and  even  if  he  had  succeeded 
in  fighting   his   way  through  these,   he   would   have 


68  'TWIXT   SAND    AND    SEA 

found  his  advance  barred  by  the  great  wall  of  the  oity. 
Such  a  plan  of  attack  would  have  involved  enormous 
risks  of  failure,  and  even  if  successful  would  have 
been  attended  by  a  loss  of  life  which  he  dared  not 
face.  He  gave  up  the  attempt  as  hopeless,  retired 
from  Megara,  and  sat  down  for  a  regular  siege. 

But,  though  it  had  failed  in  its  immediate  object, 
this  assault  was  not  without  any  result.  Alarmed 
at  such  vigour  and  so  near  an  approach  to  success, 
the  army  encamped  on  the  isthmus,  outside  the 
walls,  retreated  into  Byrsa,  and  left  Scipio  free  for 
the  work  which  he  next  took  in  hand.  Hasdrubal, 
not  unnaturally  enraged  at  such  cowardly  insubordi- 
nation, replied  by  the  usual  Carthaginian  method  of 
bringing  all  his  prisoners  on  to  the  walls  and  there 
massacring  them,  with  horrible  tortures,  in  full  sight  of 
the  Romans. 

After  restoring  discipline  in  the  camp,  Scipio 
proceeded  at  once  to  make  the  siege  an  effective 
blockade  by  land  and  sea.  Advancing  his  headquarters 
from  Utica  to  the  isthmus  between  Djebel-el-Ahmor 
and  the  city,  he  constructed  across  it,  at  a  distance 
of  a  mile  and  a  half  from  Carthage,  a  quadrilateral 
fortification,  consisting,  on  three  sides,  of  a  deep  fosse 
and  bank  strengthened  by  a  stockade  ;  on  the  fourth 
side,  facing  the  city,  he  built  a  great  wall  with  towers, 
the  central  one  being  sufficiently  lofty  to  command 
Carthage  ;  this  immense  work  was  completed  in  twenty 
days,  and  on  the  land  side  Carthage  was  effectually 
isolated. 

An  even  more  important  work,  and  one  for  which 
he  was  specially  fitted,  was  to  win  over  her  allies. 
A  dramatic  story  is  told  of  an  interview  with  Phameas. 
They  stood  on  either  side  of  a  river  and  discussed 
the  question.     At  first  Phameas,  who  had  no  exalted 


THE    MAILED    FIST  69 

opinion  of  the  honour  or  trustworthiness  of  Rome, 
hesitated  ;  after  consideration,  however,  the  arguments 
and  promises  of  Scipio,  coupled  with  that  persuasive 
confidence  which  he  always  inspired  and  deserved, 
prevailed,  and  the  most  active  of  her  enemies  became 
the  firm  ally  of  Rome,  and  was  taken  into  the  im- 
mediate service  of  the  Consul. 

But  only  half  his  task,  and  that  the  easier,  was 
as  yet  accomplished,  for  Carthage  was  still  receiving  an 
adequate  supply  of  provisions  by  sea.  These  came 
largely  from  Bithyas,  a  Numidian  sheik  who  had 
recently  joined  the  Carthaginians  with  eight  hundred 
horse,  and  seems  to  have  conducted  much  of  the 
blockade-running  between  the  camp  at  Nepheris 
and  the  city. 

Scipio's  next  enterprise  was  to  close  the  mouth  of 
the  harbours.  Fighting  his  way  up  to  the  Ligula,  he 
threw  across  the  little  bay,  from  the  shore  to  the  break- 
water which  protected  the  entrance  to  the  ports, 
a  gigantic  jetty  of  hewn  stones  ninety  feet  wide, 
which  effectually  blocked  the  approach  and  rendered 
relief  from  the  sea  as  impossible  as  from  land.^ 

But  the  Carthaginians  were  not  content  to  see 
themselves  thus  systematically  hemmed  in  by  sea 
and  land  without  an  effort  to  break  the  meshes  of 
the  deadly  net  which  was  being  drawn  around  them. 
Working  night  and  day  with  the  feverish  energy  of 
despair,  they  built  of  such  materials  as  they  had, 
a  squadron  of  fifty  new  warships,  and  cut  an  outlet 
through  the  quay,  from  the  inner  harbour  or  Cothon, 
to  the  sea. 

On  the  very  day  the  jetty  was  completed,  the  new 
fleet   of   the   enemy   broke   with   triumphant   shouts 

*  This  immense  work  was  accomplished  in  thirty  days.     Traces  of  the 
jetty  are  still  visible. 


70  'TWIXT    SAND    AND    SEA 

into  the  open  sea,  and  Scipio  saw  his  work  undone. 
Nor  was  this  the  worst.  In  the  behef  that  the  sea 
was  clear,  the  Roman  ships  had  been  half  dismantled, 
the  weapons  of  war  had  been  removed  to  the  siege 
works,  and  the  crews  had  been  landed  to  build  the 
jetty.  If  the  Carthaginians  had  attacked  at  once, 
they  might  have  destroyed  the  fleet  utterly,  or  at  any 
rate  struck  a  blow  from  which  it  would  have  taken 
the  Romans  long  to  recover.  Instead  of  this,  they 
contented  themselves  with  making  a  noisy  and  harm- 
less demonstration,  and  returned  into  harbour.  For 
three  days  they  remained  inactive,  and  during  that 
time  Scipio  was  able  to  re-man  and  re-arm  the  fleet. 
At  last  they  offered  battle.  The  engagement  lasted 
the  whole  day, and  ended  in  favour  of  the  Carthaginians. 
When  returning  to  the  harbour,  however,  the  vessels 
were  entangled  in  a  mass  of  shipping  which  was 
issuing  from  the  new  outlet,  and  it  v/as  found  necessary 
to  beach  them  off  the  quays.  Here  they  were  again 
attacked  by  the  Romans,  and  completely  destroyed ; 
Scipio  at  the  same  time  furiously  assaulted  the  en- 
trance to  the  harbours,  using  his  new  jetty  as  a  cause- 
way for  his  troops.  Once  more  Carthage  owed  her 
deliverance  to  the  desperate  valour  of  her  children. 
Wading  or  swimming  into  the  sea  with  burning  torches, 
they  set  fire  to  the  Roman  ships  and  siege  works  and 
beat  off  the  enemy,  while  the  land  attack  by  Scipio 
was  repulsed  by  a  frantic  sally  against  which  even 
the  disciplined  courage  of  the  legionaries  was  of 
no  avail.  The  outer  harbour,  however,  remained  in 
the  hands  of  the  Romans.^ 

Once  more  Scipio  had  to  own  himself  foiled  and 
be  content  to  wait ;  but  this  time  it  was  only  for  a 
season.     The  quarry  was  penned  in  safely  by  both 

*  It  had  been  burnt  by  Hasdrubal,  and,  probably,  rendered  useless. 


THE    MAILED    FIST  71 

land  and  sea,  and  the  end  was  near  and  certain.  Now 
he  had  an  ally  who  could  be  trusted,  and  against 
whom  all  human  valour  was  in  vain.  Of  the  three 
terrible  handmaidens  who  wait  ever  upon  War — Fire, 
Blood,  and  Famine — Scipio  "  chose  the  meekest  maid 
of  the  three,"  and  she  served  him  well.  Afterwards 
came  the  turn  of  the  other  two.  He  had  only  to  wait 
a  little,  while  Famine  and  her  daughter  Pestilence 
did  his  work  for  him.  The  delay,  however,  was  not 
wasted  in  idleness  ;  his  colleague  Lselius,  taking  with 
him  Gulussa,  son  of  Masinissa,  whom  Scipio  had 
attached  closely  to  himself,  cleared  the  country  of  the 
native  allies  of  the  Carthaginians.  Bithyas  was  taken 
prisoner,  the  camp  at  Nepheris^  was  captured  after 
a  siege  of  twenty-two  days,  and  the  defenders,  to  the 
number  of  eighty  thousand,  put  to  the  sword. 

So  passed  the  terrible  winter  of  147-6  B.C.,  the 
Romans  keeping  watch  Uke  wolves  outside,  and  seven 
hundred  thousand  wretches  starving  inside  the  walls 
of  the  doomed  city.  When,  early  in  the  spring, 
"  at  the  time  when  kings  go  forth  to  battle,"  Scipio 
renewed  the  attack,  it  was  against  an  enemy  gaunt 
with  famine,  decimated  by  disease,  only  the  spectres 
of  their  old  vaJiant  selves,  that  he  had  to  fight. 

Once  more  he  poured  his  legions  over  the  jetty 
which  he  had  built,  on  to  the  breakwater,  and  so  by 
the  harbour  mouth  into  the  city.  Fighting  his  way 
inch  by  inch,  he  drove  the  enemy  back  upon  the  Cothon 
or  inner  harbour  ;  this  also  he  stormed,  and  that  night 
he  bivouacked  in  the  Forum,  within  the  innermost 
wall  of  the  city.  Thence  to  the  foot  of  the  fortress 
hill  of  Byrsa  was  a  distance  of  about  six  hundred 
yards.     You  can  walk  it  now  in  a  few  minutes,  down 

*  Now  Henchir-bou-Beker,  between  Bou  Kornein  and  Djebel  Ressas,  in 
the  Plain  of  Mornag. 


72  'TWIXT   SAND    AND    SEA 

a  hillside  blazing  with  tall  yellow  pyrethrum  and 
sweet  with  wild  mignonette,  and  so  on  through  pleasant 
level  fields  of  corn  and  barley.  It  took  the  Romans 
six  awful  days  and  nights  of  carnage  to  force  their 
way  to  the  foot  of  the  citadel,  burning  and  destroying 
as  they  went,  sparing  neither  man,  woman,  nor  child, 
trampling  living  and  dead  ahke  under  their  horses' 
hoofs,  or  burying  them  in  the  blazing  wreckage  of 
their  ruined  homes.  Before  them  the  glorious  city, 
behind  them  a  desolate  wilderness. 

Then  at  last  came  a  pause  in  the  butchery.  Has- 
drubal  surrendered  on  the  sole  condition  that  the 
lives  of  the  survivors  should  be  spared,  and  fifty 
thousand  miserable  creatures,  starving  and  half  naked, 
came  out  of  Byrsa  to  claim  such  mercy  as  an  enemy 
flushed  with  victory  and  glutted  with  slaughter  might 
show.  They  were  sent  over  to  Italy  and  sold  as  slaves. 

There  were,  however,  still  in  Byrsa  nine  hundred 
deserters  who  had  been  expressly  excluded  by  Scipio 
from  the  promised  amnesty.  These  shut  themselves 
up  within  the  great  Temple  of  Eschmoun,  and  Has- 
drubal  with  his  wife  and  children  remained  with  them. 
Next  day  the  courage  of  Hasdrubal  also  failed  him, 
and  he  too  surrendered  himself  to  Scipio. 

Scipio,  so  runs  the  story,  dragged  the  unhappy 
man,  clad  in  royal  apparel,  to  a  place  ^  whence  he 
could  see  and  hear  all  that  passed  in  Byrsa.  He 
watched  the  men  whom  he  had  deserted  set  fire  to 
the  temple  and  perish  in  the  flames.  After  enduring 
the  fierce  reproaches  of  his  wife,  he  saw  her  kill  his 
children  one  by  one  and  cast  them  into  the  fire,  before 
leaping  into  it  herself,  like  another  Elissar.  And  so 
he  was  led  away  to  be  seen  no  more  until  the  day 

^  Probably  the  hill  opposite  Byrsa,  now  called  the  Hill  of  Juno.     But  the 
story  is  doubtful,  and  very  unlike  Scipio. 


THE    MAILED    FIST  73 

when  he  graced  the  triumph  of  the  conqueror  in  Rome. 
Finally,  he  and  Bithyas  were  confined,  as  State 
prisoners,  in  the  centre  of  Italy,  and  treated  with 
tolerable  kindness. 

The  work  of  Scipio,  the  younger  Africanus,  was 
done,  and  he  returned  to  Rome  to  make  his  report 
and  celebrate  his  triumph.  When  consulted  by  the 
Senate  as  to  the  future  of  Carthage,  he  declined  to 
give  any  advice,  though  it  was  understood  that  his 
opinion  was  against  the  wanton  destruction  of  what 
remained  of  the  city.  The  Senate  was,  however,  in 
no  mood  to  listen  to  counsels  of  leniency  even  from 
Scipio,  and  it  was  finally  determined  that  the  city 
should  be  razed  to  the  ground,  the  site  ploughed  over, 
and  a  solemn  curse  pronounced  on  any  man  who 
should  build  house  or  plant  corn  there  for  ever.  Ten 
commissioners  were  appointed  to  give  effect  to  the 
■decree.  But  their  task  was  an  easy  one.  When  the 
inhabitants  of  Megara  found  that  the  city  was  lost, 
they  set  fire  to  what  remained.  For  seventeen  days 
the  conflagration  raged — the  funeral  pyre  of  a  dead 
city  and  civilisation.  Delenda  est  Carthago,  such  had 
heen  the  resolve ;  and  now,  Carthago  deleta  est — 
wiped  out. 


CHAPTER   V 

THE   MARCH   OF   EMPIRE,  146  b.c.-a.d.  40 

"  Troja  fuitr  "  Troy  has  been."  So  the  Dido  had 
said  to  iEneas ;  and  now  the  same  was  true  of  her 
own  city  also. 

But  the  Romans  were  more  embarrassed  than 
intoxicated  by  their  success.  Their  rival  was  de- 
stroyed, their  commerce  was  safe,  the  trade  routes 
in  the  Mediterranean  were  theirs.  This  was  what 
they  had  fought  for  and  won,  and  the  Senate  did 
not  desire,  so  Strabo  tells  us,  more,  or  to  take  upon 
its  shoulders  the  burden  of  a  new  foreign  possession. 
That  the  fall  of  Carthage  had  given  them  an  African 
empire  ;  that  it  would  be  impossible  for  them  to  set 
any  bounds  to  their  advance  short  of  those  which 
nature  had  fixed  in  sand  or  sea — this  they  realised  as 
little  as  the  ordinary  Englishman  saw  that  the  prize 
won  by  Nelson  on  the  Nile,  or  at  Trafalgar,  was  the 
over-lordship  of  Egypt  and  India.  But  so  it  was, 
Vestigia  .  .  .  nulla  retrorsum}  When  a  nation  has  put 
its  hand  to  the  plough,  it  cannot  look  back,  even  if  it 
would. 

Meanwhile  Rome  fixed  the  seat  of  government  at 
Utica,  the  base  of  the  operations  against  Carthage, 
and  waited. 

But  the  site  of  Carthage  was  too  famous  and  im- 
portant to  remain  long  unoccupied,  or  to  be  allowed 
to  fall  into  other,  and  perhaps  hostile,  hands. 
Within    twenty-four    years    of   its    destruction    Caius 

1  Hor.  Ep.  I.  i.  75. 

74 


THE    MARCH    OF    EMPIRE  75 

Gracchus,  122  B.C.,  was  entrusted  with  the  work  of 
occupying  the  accursed  ^  site  and  founding  there,  with 
six  thousand  colonists,  a  new  city  of  Junonia.  Little, 
however,  came  of  it ;'  indeed,  the  main  object  of  the 
Senate  was  to  get  rid  of  and  discredit  a  dangerous 
man.  Coins,  however,  have  been  found  bearing  Punic 
names  and  the  Punic  title  of  Suffete,  which  seem  to 
belong  to  this  period,  and  to  show  that  the  place  was 
occupied  by  a  population  in  which  the  remains  of  the 
Carthaginian  inhabitants  lived,  on  at  least  equal  terms 
with  the  Romans.  Caesar  slept  there  after  the  battle 
of  Thapsus,  46  B.C.,  and  in  consequence  of  a  dream, 
entered  in  his  diary  next  morning,  "  Rebuild  Car- 
thage." His  murder  prevented  his  plans  from  being 
carried  out,  and  the  work  was  left  for  Augustus. 

Meanwhile  the  Romans  contented  themselves  with 
annexing  the  territory  of  Carthage,  consisting  of  little 
more  than  the  corner  of  Tunisia  between  the  islands 
of  Thabraca  (Tabarka)  and  Kerkennah ;  this  formed 
Provincia  Africa,  and  it  was  from  this  little  angle  of 
land  that  the  name  spread  until  it  embraced  the  whole 
of  the  vast  continent ;  just  as  the  whole  native  race  of 
North  Africa  received  their  name  of  "Berbers"  from 
the  Brabra  of  the  basin  of  the  Nile — the  first  Africans 
with  whom  the  Arab  invaders  came  into  conflict.^ 

Beyond  these  narrow  limits  they  troubled  them- 

'  It  seems  strange  that  the  solemn  curse  should  have  been  so  soon 
forgotten  or  ignored.  Probably  it  applied  only  to  the  city  proper,  and  it 
was  proposed  to  build  the  new  city  on  the  site  of  Alegara. 

^  The  lines  drawn  for  the  streets  of  the  new  city  are  still  visible.  "  The 
Cardo  and  the  Decumanus  Maximus  correspond  with  the  road  which  leads 
north  to  the  village  of  Kamart,  and  that  which  descends  from  Sidi-bou-Said 
towards  the  Lake  of  Tunis." — Ruines  de  Carthage,  p.  23. 

^  This  accidental  renaming  of  a  country  is  curiously  common.  Thus 
Canaan  took  its  new  name  from  the  Philistines,  Hellas  from  the  Graii, 
Etruria  and  Latium  from  the  I  tali,  Gaul  from  the  Franks,  Britain  from  the 
Angles,  Caledonia  from  the  Irish  Scots. 


76  'TWIXT   SAND    AND    SEA 

selves  with  the  affairs  of  their  neighbours  as  Httle  as 
might  be.  They  were  content  that  their  httle  settle- 
ment should  be  surrounded  on  three  sides  by  the 
kingdom  of  Numidia,  which  Masinissa  had  built  up, 
and  Mauretania  kept  her  kings.  The  country  was 
vast,  difficult  of  access,  and  but  little  known,  and  the 
Senate  preferred  to  leave  the  task  of  governing  it  in 
the  hands  of  the  native  princes.  The  position  was 
like  that  of  England  in  India,  where  the  native  princes 
have  been  watched,  advised,  subsidised,  and  tolerated, 
just  so  far  as  was  politically  advisable,  and  just  so 
long  as  they  behaved  themselves.  The  iron  hand 
wore  the  velvet  glove,  but  it  was  iron  still. 

For  a  time  this  attitude  of  detachment  answered 
sufficiently  well,  but  it  could  not  last  long.  Masinissa 
was  dead,  and  both  interest  and  gratitude  attached 
his  successor,  Mecipsa,  firmly  to  Rome.  He  was  a 
faithful  ally  in  the  sense  in  which  the  Senate  under- 
stood the  term  :  he  welcomed  the  Italian  merchants 
and  bankers  and  allowed  them  to  settle  in  his  cities, 
even  in  Cirta  itself ;  and  his  cavalry  served  in  the 
Roman  armies.  But  on  his  death,  in  Ii8  B.C.,  troubles 
began  at  once.  His  two  sons,  Hiempsal  and  Adherbal, 
were  as  tame  as  could  be  desired,  but  besides  these 
he  left  a  nephew,  a  natural  son  of  his  brother  Mas- 
tanabal,  who,  after  learning  his  business  as  a  cavalry 
officer  in  the  army  of  Scipio,  was  destined  to  revolu- 
tionise the  Roman  rule  in  Africa. 

Jugurtha  was  a  worthy  descendant  of  Masinissa. 
A  born  fighter  and  hunter,  brave,  handsome,  gene- 
rous, he  was  the  idol  of  his  soldiers,  and  won  a  popu- 
larity which  was  enhanced  by  his  barbaric  virtues  of 
crafty,  unscrupulous  ambition  and  a  savage  indiffer- 
ence to  life.  Unfortunately  for  Rome,  he  had  learnt 
much  in  the  camp  of  Scipio  besides  the  art  of  war ; 


THE    MARCH    OF    EMPIRE  77 

he  had  fathomed  the  depravity  of  the  masters  of  the 
world,  and  had  been  taught  that,  in  deahng  with  such 
men,  everything  was  possible  to  him  who  possessed 
sufficient  audacity  and  money. 

Events  moved  rapidly.  In  117  B.C.  Hiempsal 
was  murdered,  probably  by  Jugurtha,  and  Adherbal, 
worsted  in  the  war  which  ensued,  fled  to  Italy  to  avoid 
a  like  fate,  and  to  lay  his  grievances  before  the  tribunal 
at  Rome.  After  preparing  the  ground  with  liberal 
bribes,  Jugurtha  followed  him,  and  also  placed  himself 
unreservedly  in  the  hands  of  the  Senate.  Such  tact 
and  submission  succeeded  as  they  deserved,  and  he 
was  acquitted.  Commissioners  were  sent  to  Numidia 
to  divide  the  country  between  the  rivals.  Jugurtha 
bribed  them  also  and  obtained  the  lion's  share.  On 
their  departure  he  began  the  war  again,  took  Cirta 
and  murdered  Adherbal,  and  with  him  the  Itahan 
soldiers  and  merchants  who  had  taken  his  part.  This 
was  a  fatal  mistake,  for  the  popular  indignation  at 
Rome  compelled  the  Senate  to  declare  war.  The 
command  was  given  to  the  Consul,  Calpurnius.  Him 
also  Jugurtha  bribed  and  obtained  terms  of  peace 
so  favourable  that  the  Senate  hesitated  to  ratify 
them.  Once  again  Jugurtha  had  to  visit  Rome  and 
explain  matters  by  his  one  unfailing  argument  of 
gold.  At  Rome  he  found  Massiva,  son  of  the  Gulussa 
who  had  done  such  yeoman  service  for  Scipio  in  the 
siege  of  Carthage.  There  was  some  talk  of  shar- 
ing the  kingdom  between  the  cousins,  so  him,  too, 
Jugurtha  was  compelled  to  murder.  This  was  too 
much.  Hitherto  Jugurtha  had  worked  on  the  assump- 
tion that  everything  was  to  be  bought  at  Rome  ; 
''  Urbem  venalem,"  he  is  reported  to  have  often 
said,  ''et  mature  perituram  si  emptorem  invenerit."^ 

^  J"S-  35-   Again  :  "  Certum  esse  ratus  omnia  Romae  venalia  esse ''  (Jug.  2o)» 


78  TWIXT   SAND    AND    SEA 

Now  the  rule  broke  down,  and  although  his  safe  con- 
duct was  respected,  he  was  ordered  to  leave  the  city. 

The  favourite  officer  of  Scipio  knew  the  strength 
and  the  weakness  of  the  army  in  which  he  had  served, 
and  against  which  he  was  now  to  fight.  He  knew 
also  the  character  and  resources  of  the  country  in 
which  the  war  was  to  be  carried  on.  Avoiding  pitched 
battles,  he  waged  a  guerilla  war  of  perpetual  skirmishes, 
ambuscades,  surprises.  South  Africa  has  taught  us 
how  long  and  difficult  a  task  it  is  for  trained  troops, 
in  the  enemy's  country,  to  meet  such  tactics  as  these, 
especially  if  carried  out  by  a  commander  of  real 
military  genius.  In  no  B.C.  he  even  succeeded  in 
defeating  the  Consul  Aulus,  and  made  the  army  pass 
under  the  yoke. 

However,  in  the  end,  against  such  men  as  Metellus, 
Marius,  and  Sylla,  this  stategy  was  in  vain.  Metellus 
forced  him  to  make  a  stand  on  the  Multhul  and  defeated 
him,  much  as  Kitchener  did  the  Mahdi  at  Omdurman,  ; 
and  besieged  and  took  his  cities  one  after  the  other. 
Marius  drove  him  back  into  the  extreme  south,  and 
again  defeated  him  and  his  ally  and  father-in-law, 
Bocchus,  King  of  Mauretania.  The  diplomacy  of 
Sylla  won  over  Bocchus.  Jugurtha  was  betrayed 
into  the  hands  of  the  Romans,  and  after  figuring, 
like  Hasdrubal,  in  the  triumph  of  his  conqueror,  was 
lowered  into  the  "  cold  bath "  of  the  Tullianum  ^ 
and  starved  to  death. 

Again  Rome  disdained  to  fly  upon  the  spoil. 
Bocchus  was  rewarded  for  his  treachery  with  the 
country  west  of  Numidia,  and  the  rest  was  left  in  the 

*  The  Tullianum  is  now  known,  wrongly,  as  the  Mamertine  Prison,  of 
which  it  was  at  first  the  well,  and  then,  when  drained  into  the  Cloaca 
Maxima,  the  place  of  execution  for  important  political  prisoners  such  as 
Catiline.  The  prison,  important  fragments  of  which  still  remain,  stood 
above  it. 


THE    MARCH    OF    EMPIRE  79 

hands   of   Gunda,   the    grandson   of   Masinissa,   who 
reigned  in  peaceful  obscurity  at  Cirta. 

Tribal  jealousies  and  ambitions  have  always  ren- 
dered the  Berbers  incapable  of  united  or  sustained 
patriotic  action.  After  the  fall  of  Jugurtha,  the 
petty  kings  and  princes  were  far  more  anxious  to 
obtain  the  help  of  Rome  against  their  rivals  than  to 
unite  with  those  rivals  and  secure  liberty  for  Africa. 
And  thus  it  happened  that  the  feuds  at  Rome  between 
Marius  and  Sylla,  or  Pompey  and  Caesar,  were  taken  up 
eagerly  in  Africa  and  often  fought  out  on  African  soil. 
Hiempsal  II.,  the  son  of  Gunda,  who  had  succeeded 
to  the  throne  of  Numidia,  espoused  the  cause  of  Sylla. 
He  was  deposed  by  the  Heutenant  of  Marius  and 
reinstated  by  Pompey,  who  thus  secured  the  adher- 
ence of  himself  and  his  son  Juba  I.  for  the  Senatorial 
party  in  the  war  with  Caesar.  When,  after  the  battle 
of  Pharsalia,  Caesar's  lieutenant  was  killed,  and  Africa 
occupied  by  Attius  Varus  on  behalf  of  the  Senate, 
Juba  at  once  joined  him.  While  Caesar  was  busy 
in  Egypt  and  Pontus,  the  Pompeians  massed  their 
scattered  forces  in  Africa.  At  the  head  were  Q. 
Metellus  Scipio,  Afranius,  and  Cato,  who  crossed 
over  from  Italy  with  what  troops  he  could  collect, 
and  joined  them  from  the  south,  marching  from  Cyrene 
along  the  shores  of  the  Syrtes.  The  adhesion  of  Juba 
to  the  Pompeians  secured  the  alliance  of  Bocchus  and 
Bogad,  kings  of  Mauretania,  for  Caesar  ;  and  on  the 
west  the  forces  of  the  Senate  were  kept  in  check  by 
their  troops,  under  the  command  of  a  Roman  adven- 
turer, P.  Sittius,  until  such  time  as  Caesar  himself 
might  come.  This  was  not  until  the  autumn  of  the 
year  47  B.C.  In  April  46  B.C.,  Caesar  won  his  com- 
plete and  final  victory  at  Thapsus  (Ras  Dinas),  on  the 
coast  between  Monastir  and  Metidia,  a  hundred  miles 


8o  'TWIXT    SAND    AND    SEA 

south  of  Carthage.  Juba  and  Cato  committed  suicide, 
the  one  on  the  field  of  battle  and  the  other  at  Utica, 
and  Caesar  returned  in  triumph  to  Rome,  taking  with 
him  the  little  son  of  Juba,  who  was  to  reappear  later  on 
as  Juba  11.  The  boy  was  treated  with  no  ordinary 
distinction,  kindness,  and  wisdom.  He  was  entrusted 
to  the  care  of  Octavia,  Caesar's  own  sister,  and  widow 
of  both  Pompey  and  Anthony,  one  of  the  very  noblest 
of  the  ladies  of  Rome  in  rank  and  character,  and  in 
time  was  given  in  marriage  Cleopatra  Selene,  the 
daughter  of  Anthony  and  Cleopatra. 

Thus  fell  the  kingdom  of  Numidia,  and  for  a  time 
even  the  name  was  blotted  out.  The  country  was 
divided  into  two  provinces  :  all  west  of  the  Great  River, 
the  Ampsaga,  was  given  to  the  kings  of  Mauretania, 
while  all  to  the  east,  though  formally  annexed  under 
the  name  of  New  Africa,  and  placed,  fortunately  for 
us,  under  the  governorship  of  Sallust,^  was  formed 
into  a  quasi-kingdom  with  its  capital  at  Cirta,  and 
given  to  P.  Sittius,  who  was  thus  rewarded  for  his 
timely  loyalty  to  Caesar. 

The  indecision  and  hesitation  of  Roman  policy  in 
Africa  were  only  the  reflex  and  outcome  of  the  un- 
certainty which  reigned  in  Rome  itself  as  to  its  own 
future.  The  death-struggle  of  the  dying  Republic 
with  the  coming  Empire  gave  her  but  little  time  or 
taste  for  foreign  adventure.  When  this  was  over,  and 
the  Empire  was  firmly  established  in  the  hands  of 
Augustus,  the  prudence  and  caution  remained,  but 
the  hesitation  vanished.  In  the  division  of  territory  ' 
between  the  members  of  the  Second  Triumvirate,  in 

^  Sir  Lambert  Playfair  speaks  of  an  inscription,  found  in  the  gorge  of 
the  Rummel,  which  contains  the  words,  "FlNls  Fundi  SallUSTIANI," 
"The  Boundary  of  the  Estate  of  Sallust."  His  house  on  the  Quirinal  was 
enriched  with  the  spoils  of  Cirta  and  neighbouring  cities  such  as  Calama, 
Thagaste,  and  Hippo. 


THE    MARCH    OF    EMPIRE  8i 

43  B.C.,  all  Africa  was  assigned  to  Octavius.     True  to 

the  old  principle  of  using  native  rulers  so  far  as  possible, 

he   restored    for    the    moment   the    old    kingdom   of 

Numidia,  giving  it  the  name  of  Numidia  Provincia, 

and  setting  over  it  (30  B.C.)  the  young  King  Juba  II. 

This  arrangement,  however,  did  not  last  for  long.     Five 

years  later  the  throne  of  Mauretania  became  vacant, 

and  was  given  to  Juba,  with  lol,  an  old  Carthaginian 

town  on  the  coast,  thirty  miles  west  of  Algiers,  as  his 

capital.     Here  he  built  Caesarea  (Cherchel),  the  only 

great  Roman  city  west  of  Cirta,  and  reigned  for  nearly 

fifty  years  over  a  kingdom  which  included  the  whole 

of   Morocco   and    the   greater    part   of    Algeria.      A 

^thorough  Roman  by  education  and  training,  a  man 

of  culture  and  intellect,  the  husband  of  one  of  the 

most  notable  women  in  the  world,  Juba  made  his  new 

capital  the  most  splendid  city  in  Africa,  if  second  to 

any,  second  only  to  Carthage  itself,  terrarum  decus^ 

and   the   rival   in   glory   of   Imperial   Rome.       Some 

j^Bcattered  ruins  on  a  little  plain  between  the  hills  and 

the  sea  are  all  that  now  remains  of  this  magnificence  ; 

1  but  the  beauty  of  the  statues  found  there,  the  delicate 

.  :arving  of  the  capitals,  and  the  lovely  pillars  which 

i;  idorned    the    Arab    mosque,^   bear    witness    to    the 

cultured   taste   of   its   founder,   while   the   enormous 

Thermae  and  the  vast  amphitheatre  and  circus  testify 

i  :o  the  less  intellectual  side  of  Roman  civilisation.^ 

On  his  death  in  a.d.  19  he  was  succeeded  by  his 

1  ion  Ptolemy  ;    but  the  splendour  of  his  Court  in  the 

r  vest  of  Africa  and  the  growing  importance  and  power 

)f  the   Roman   Proconsul  in  the   east,   aroused  the 

ealous  fears  of  Caligula.     The  power  of  the  latter 

^  Aur.  Victor  Caes.  19.  ^  Now  the  Military  Hospital. 

^  For  an  account  of  his  mausoleum,  the  Kbour  Roumia,  vide  Part  II., 
Chapter  III. 

F 


82  'TWIXT   SAND    AND    SEA 

he  effectually  curbed  by  placing  the  army  under 
the  command  of  a  Legatus  Proprsetore,  appointed 
by  and  responsible  to  himself  alone.  Ptolemy  he 
summoned  to  Rome,  and  there,  rendered  doubly 
jealous  by  his  youthful  beauty,  his  popularity,  and, 
as  we  are  expressly  told,  the  magnificence  of  his 
dress,  he  murdered  him  and  finally  annexed  his 
kingdom.^ 

Thus  ended  the  march  of  the  Roman  Empire, 
stopped  only,  like  the  marauding  foray  of  Sidi  Okba, 
by  the  Atlantic  waves.  It  had  spread  over  two  hun- 
dred years.  After  the  fall  of  Carthage,  146  B.C.,  Pro- 
vincia  Africa  had  been  annexed ;  after  the  battle  of 
Thapsus,  46  B.C.,  Numidia ;  and  now,  on  the  death 
of  Ptolemy,  a.d.  40,  Mauretania  also.  From  the 
Syrtes  to  the  Pillars  of  Hercules,  all  owned  the  sway 
of  Rome. 

This  'gradual,  inevitable  extension  of  the  Roman 
Empire,  by  the  very  force  of  circumstances,  presents 
an  interesting  parallel  to  the  building  up  of  our  own. 
Judging  from  the  wide  extent  of  their  conquests, 
we  are  apt  to  think  of  the  Romans  as  insatiable  in 
their  ambition,  and  determined  to  make  themselves 
the  masters  of  the  world.  This  was  a  kind  of  flattery 
which  tickled  the  ears  of  Emperors,  and  so  it  was 

^  Three  portrait  busts  have  been  found  at  Cherchel,  and  are  now  in  the 
Museum  at  Algiers,  which  are  supposed  to  represent  the  three  Jubas.  If 
this  identification  be  correct,  a  comparison  between  them  is  interesting. 

Juba  I.  has  a  long,  lean,  wild  face,  with  strongly-marked,  aquiline 
features,  and  a  long  beard. 

Juba  II.  is  essentially  Roman  in  appearance.  He  is  clean-shaven,  with 
a  round  head,  broad  forehead,  square  chin,  bull  neck,  and  blunt  Berber 
features,  so  far  as  we  can  judge,  for  the  nose  is  missing. 

Juba  III.  (Ptolemy)  is  utterly  decadent  and  sensual.  He  has  returned  to 
the  beard,  which,  however,  is  carefully  trimmed  ;  the  cheeks  are  prominent, 
and  the  nose,  pinched  and  hooked,  is  sunk  between  them ;  the  mouth  is 
small  and  the  lips  are  full.  There  is  little  to  justify  the  alleged  jealousy  of 
Caligula,  yet  this  is,  I  believe,  the  best  authenticated  of  the  three  busts. 


THE    MARCH    OF    EMPIRE  83 

offered  them  in  abundance  by  Court  poets  and  other 
sycophants — 

"Romanes,  Rerum  dominos,  Gentemque  togatam"  ;^ 

and  again — 

"  Tu  regere  imperio  populos,  Romane,  memento."  ^ 

So  wrote  Vergil,  while  the  flattery  offered  by  Horace 
was  more  fulsome  because  more  personal. 

In  fact,  they  were  a  prudent,  stoHd,  rather  stupid 
people,  like  ourselves,  with  little  imagination,  no  wild 
dreams  of  empire,  and  small  liking  for  unprofitable 
adventure.  But  the  necessities  of  trade  carried  them 
far  and  wide,  one  war  led  to  another,  a  new  province 
had  to  be  conquered  to  insure  the  safety  of  an  old 
one  ;  and  so  the  empire  was  built,  almost  against  the 
will  of  the  empire-builders. 

Then  as  now,  public  opinion  was  divided.  There 
were  wild  Imperialists  and  timid  Little  Romans.  When 
Hannibal  was  defeated  at  Zama,  questions  were  asked 
in  the  Senate  as  to  the  value  of  Carthage  if  they 
annexed  it.  On  the  fall  of  Carthage,  there  were  not 
wanting  politicians  who  were  for  withdrawing  the 
troops  and  leaving  Africa  to  itself.  This  was  no 
mere  passing  phase  of  opinion.  So  late  as  the  reign 
of  Trajan,  serious  historians  discussed  the  question 
whether  it  would  have  been  better  for  Rome  to  have 
abstained  from  occupying  Africa,  or  even  Sicily,  and 
to  have  contented  herself  with  Italy  only.  But,  for 
good  or  evil,  perhaps  for  both,  world  history  is  not 
made  like  this,  and  nations,  like  men,  sometimes  have 
greatness  thrust  upon  them.  The  advance  of  the 
Roman  arms  was  embarrassed,  delayed,  thwarted  by 
such  counsels  as  these,  but  not  stopped  ;  hopeless 
struggles  for  liberty  were  encouraged,  much  blood  was 

1  Aen.  i.  282.  2  ^^;,_  yj  g^j 


84  'TWIXT   SAND    AND    SEA 

shed,  and  bitter  ill-will  engendered  and  kept  alive, 
but  the  end  was  inevitable,  and  it  came,  bringing 
with  it  to  Africa  two  centuries  of  such  prosperity  as 
she  has  never  known,  before  or  since,  safe  under  the 
aegis  of  the  Immensa  Romance  Pacts  Majestas. 

But  it  was  not  enough  to  annex  North  Africa;  it 
had  to  be  garrisoned  also. 

The  nucleus  or  unit  of  the  Roman  army  of  occupa- 
tion was  the  Legion,  which  corresponded  more  closely 
with  our  division,  or  even  army  corps,  than  with  the 
regiment.  The  legion  was  territorial  in  the  sense  that 
it  was  raised  and  recruited  in  some  one  part  of  the 
Empire,  but  the  duties  assigned  to  it  were  usually  in 
some  far  distant  province,  and  from  this  it  was  never 
moved.  The  saying  of  Seneca,  Ubicunque  Romanus 
vicit  habitat,^  "  Wherever  the  Roman  has  conquered 
he  settles,"  was  in  a  special  sense  true  of  the  soldier. 
Veterans,  when  their  time  of  service  with  the  standards 
was  over,  did  not  return  home.  The  Senate  planted 
them  somewhere  as  a  colony,  for  every  legionary  was, 
ipso  facto,  a  Roman  citizen  ;  it  provided  them  with 
land,  slaves,  and  oxen  ;  it  exempted  them  from  taxa- 
tion, and,  in  return,  retained  some  claim  upon  their 
services  for  purposes  of  defence  or  police.  There  they 
married  and  settled.  The  wisdom  of  this  policy  is 
obvious.  The  men  were  provided  for,  and  every 
settlement  became  a  semi-military  centre  of  loyalty 
to  Rome.  Traces  of  these  colonies  are  to  be  found 
in  all  parts  of  North  Africa.  Thamugadi  (Timgad) 
was  built,  at  the  command  of  Trajan,  for  the  veterans 
of  the  XXX.  Legio  Ulpia  Victrix,  as  a  reward  for 
their  services  on  his  Parthian  campaign  ;  the  soldiers 
of  Marius  found  a  home  at  Uci  Majus  (ed-Douemis) 
on  the  Medjerba  ;  others  were  established  by  Augustus 

^  Cons,  ad  Helv.  7. 


THE    MARCH    OF    EMPIRE  85 

at  Saldae  (Bougie),  others  at  Ammcedara  (Haidra),  and 
yet  others,  by  Nerva,  at  Sitiiis  (Setif). 

The  task  of  holding  North  Africa,  and  especially 
of  guarding  the  passes  which  led  through  the  Aures 
Mountains  from  the  Tell  to  the  Sahara,  was  entrusted 
by  Augustus  to  the  IH.  Legio  Augusta.  It  had  been 
raised  in  the  eastern  provinces  of  the  Empire,  and 
strengthened  with  some  cohorts  of  Commagenians  from 
the  army  of  Antiochus.  It  was  now  stationed  in  the 
west  in  accordance  with  the  policy  already  noticed. 
It  took  up  its  work  in  North  Africa  at  the  very  be- 
ginning of  our  era,  and  remained  there  long  enough 
to  play  its  part  in  the  rebellion  of  the  Gordians, 
A.D.  238,  and  to  carry  out  the  execution  of  Cyprian 
twenty  years  later. 

But  a  single  legion  of  six  thousand  men  was  mani- 
festly inadequate  to  a  task  which,  difficult  at  first 
when  the  Roman  territory  was  but  small,  became 
overwhelming  as  by  degrees  Rome  extended  her 
dominions  farther  and  farther  to  the  west ;  and  so 
round  the  legion  there  was  collected  a  native  army 
of  auxiliary  forces.  The  natives  all  round  formed 
splendid  material  for  soldiers ;  the  Romans  had 
learned  to  respect  their  prowess  as  enemies,  now 
they  enrolled  them  as  comrades.  Some  were  formed 
into  alcB  of  cavalry,  some  into  cohorts,  officered  by 
Romans  ;  some  took  their  names  from  the  weapons 
they  used,  Sagittarii,  or  Archers ;  Funditores,  or 
Slingers ;  some  from  their  nationality ;  thus  the 
important  pass  Calceus  Herculis  (El  Kantara)  was 
manned  by  a  force  from  Palmyra,  obming,  that  is, 
from  the  same  part  of  the  Empire  as  the  legionaries 
themselves. 

Even  when  thus  strengthened  by  these  native 
troops,  the  standing  army  of  Rome  was  never  very 


86  TWIXT   SAND    AND    SEA 

large,  considering  the  work  it  had  to  do.  At  the 
death  of  Augustus  there  were  only  twenty-five 
legions ;  under  Vespasian,  thirty ;  under  Septimius 
Severus,  thirty-three — that  is,  about  two  hundred 
thousand  men  of  all  branches.  It  was  clearly  im- 
possible to  spare  more  than  one  legion  for  North 
Africa,  though  at  times  of  pressure  others  might  be 
sent  for  some  particular  piece  of  work.^  The  legion 
was,  under  ordinary  circumstances,  held  in  reserve, 
the  ordinary  work  being  done  by  the  native  forces  ; 
these  were  in  this  way  kept  busy  and  loyal,  and,  as 
they  had  the  pick  of  the  fighting,  they  were  happy. 

To  the  south  of  the  Roman  provinces  of  Africa 
and  Numidia  runs  the  great  range  of  Mons  Aurasius 
— the  Aures  Mountains.  Here  the  legion  began  its 
work  by  closing  the  easy  passes  which  led  down  from 
the  high  plateaus  to  the  level  plains  of  South  Tunisia. 
For  this  purpose  they  built  at  the  eastern  extremity 
of  the  range  the  strong  fortress  town  of  Theveste 
(Tebessa)  on  the  site  of  an  old  Libyan  stronghold 
which  had  been  captured  by  Carthage  just  before 
the  outbreak  of  the  First  Punic  War.  It  was  rebuilt 
and  fortified  by  the  Byzantine  general,  Solomon,  in 
A.D.  535,  and  is  now  strongly  held  by  the  French. 
Here  the  legion  was  stationed  for  nearly  a  century. 
Then  their  headquarters  were  moved  by  Trajan  from 
the  eastern  end  of  the  Aures  to  the  western,  from 
Theveste  to  Lambaesis,  to  block  the  way  of  the  Nomad 
marauders  from  the  Oases  of  the  Ziban  into  the  fertile 
Roman  territory.  Between  the  two  they  built  and 
fortified  Mascula  (Khenchela). 

The  great  western  gate  of  the  desert,  the  "  Foum 
es  Sahara,"  the  Mouth  of  the  Desert,  as  the  Arabs 

1  Thus,  on  the  pass  of  Kunga,  an  inscription  has  been  found  relating 
how  the  road  was  made  by  the  Sixth  Legion,  in  the  reign  of  Antoninus  Pius. 


THE    MARCH    OF    EMPIRE  87 

still  call  it,  was  the  gorge  "  Calceus  Herculis,"  cloven 
through  the  mountains  by  the  heel  of  Hercules,  accord- 
ing to  the  Romans,  or  by  the  sword  of  Sidi  Abdullah, 
according  to  the  later  Moslem  fable.  It  takes  the 
modern  name  of  El  Kantara  from  the  Roman  bridge 
which  spanned  the  Oued  Ksour,  or  Kantara.  The 
beauties  of  this  wonderful  gorge  have  often  been 
described.  So  narrow  that  the  Roman  bridge  had 
but  one  arch,  it  leads  us  down  in  less  than  half  a  mile 
from  the  cold,  grey,  rocky  plain  to  the  hot  sands  of  the 
Sahara.  In  a  few  minutes  we  pass  through  a  chaos  of 
crags  and  precipices,  from  winter  to  summer,  from 
grey  to  gold,  from  a  treeless  waste  to  the  waving 
palms  of  the  oases  of  the  Ziban.^ 

The  first  work   of  the  legion   at  its  new  station 

was  to  form  a  temporary  camp,  the  remains  of  which 

I  can  still  be  traced.     It  then  proceeded  to  erect  the 

;  great  permanent  camp  of  Lambsesis  (Lambessa),  which 

is  to-day  the  most  perfect  example  of  a  Roman  camp 

of  the  first  class  that  remains  to  us.     Between  the 

;  construction  of  these  two  camps — that  is,  about  the 

I  years  a.d.  ioo-iio,  the  legion  was  employed  in  the 

building  of  the  town  of  Thamugadi  (Timgad).^ 

A  drive  of  about  eight  miles  across  a  level  windy 
I  plain,  along  a  straight  military  road,  planted  on  each 
side  with  trees,  brings  us  from  the  French  garrison 
town  of  Batna  to  the  Penitentiary,  built  by  Napoleon 
III.  for  political  prisoners,  which  now,  with  its  garden, 
covers  all  the  south-east  quarter  of  the  great  camp. 

*  Later  on,  the  outlet  into  El  Outaya,  the  Great  Plain,  was  closed  by  a 
fort,  Burgum  Commodianum,  built  by  Marcus  Antonius  Gordianus  ;  farther 
still  to  the  south-east  lay  Vescera,  or  Bescera  (Biskra),  with  a  suburb,  Ad 
Piscinum,  at  the  hot  springs,  now  known  as  Hammam-es-Salahin,  the  Holy 
Baths. 

^  This  seems  the  most  probable  order.  Possibly,  however,  Lambaesis 
was  built  before  Thamugadi. 


88  'TWIXT    SAND    AND    SEA 

The  plain  lies  at  a  level  of  three  thousand  six  hundred 
feet  above  the  sea  ;  to  the  south,  the  Aures  range 
shelters  it  from  the  parching  winds  of  the  Sahara, 
and  it  is  sufficiently  watered  by  snow  and  rain,  as 
well  as  by  the  streams  which  run  among  the  hills,  j 
Doubtless  it  was  once  a  district  of  extreme  fertility,  | 
and  bids  fair  to  be  so  once  again  under  the  skilful 
husbandry  of  the  French. 

To  our  right,  as  we  approach  the  Penitentiary, 
lie  the  meagre  vestiges  of  the  first  camp  ;  to  our  left, 
the  very  important  ruins  of  the  second. 

The  camp,  whose  four  walls  face  the  cardinal 
points  of  the  compass,  consists  of  a  great  rectangular 
enclosure,  measuring  five  hundred  and  fifty  yards 
by  four  hundred  and  sixty,  the  shorter  sides  facing 
north  and  south.  A  tower  stood  at  each  of  the  four 
angles  ;  each  of  the  longer  curtain  walls  was  further 
strengthened  with  five  similar  towers,  each  of  the 
shorter  with  four.  These  all  projected  inwards,^  so 
that  the  external  face  of  the  walls  was  unbroken, 
save  by  the  flanking  towers  which  protected  the  gates. 
Inside  the  walls  ran  the  Pomoerium  or  broad  Boulevard. 
The  gates  were  four  in  number,  one  in  each  of  the 
walls.  Those  facing  north  and  south  occupied  the 
centre  of  the  walls.  Those  to  the  east  and  west  lay 
much  to  the  north  of  the  central  point,  so  that  the 
road  which  connected  them  ran  along  the  northern 
side  of  the  Pretorium,  the  great  parade  ground  which 
occupied  the  centre  of  the  camp.  This  road,  called 
the  Decumanus  Maximus,  was  a  broad,  finely  paved 
street,  lined  on  each  side  with  porticoes,  and  was  the 
only  thoroughfare  through  the  camp. 

The   principal   entrance  was  by  the   north  gate. 

'  This  distinguishes  Roman  from   Byzantine  work.     In  the  latter  the 
towers  project  outwards. 


I,   /; 


THE    MARCH    OF    EMPIRE  89 

From  this  gate  to  the  Decumanus  Maximus,  a  dis- 
tance of  about  one  hundred  and  forty  yards,  ran  the 
Car  do,  another  paved  and  porticoed  street.  Over  the 
intersection  of  these  roads  stood  a  magnificent  trium- 
phal arch,  usually,  but  wrongly,  called  the  Pretorium, 
of  which  it  was,  in  fact,  only  the  gateway.  This 
wonderful  arch  stands  almost  uninjured.  To  the 
north  and  south  it  had  three  openings,  to  the  east 
and  west  four.  Each  face  was  adorned  with  Corin- 
thian columns  carrying  a  pediment,  but  these  have 
been  destroyed.  Externally  it  gives  the  impression 
of  having  been  two  storeys  in  height,  for  over  the 
central  arch  in  each  face  is  a  large  opening  like  a 
window  ;  but  internally  there  is  no  trace  of  a  floor  : 
neither,  although  there  are  vaulting  shafts,  is  there 
any  trace  of  a  vault.  Probably  it  had  a  wooden 
roof  which  has  perished ;  possibly  it  was  open  to 
the  sky. 

Through  this  arch  we  pass  into  the  Pretorium 
proper,  the  most  important  and  interesting  part  of 
the  camp.  This  was  an  enormous  court  or  parade 
ground,  paved,  and  surrounded  on  three  sides  by  a 
colonnade.  On  to  this  colonnade  opened  a  series  of 
chambers  which  are  shown  by  inscriptions,  stones 
for  projectiles,  and  other  remains  found  in  them,  to 
have  been  magazines  and  offices  of  the  headquarter 
staff. 

Beyond  this  courtyard,  on  the  side  opposite  the 
triumphal  arch,  two  lateral  stairs  led  to  a  second 
court  on  a  higher  level,  of  the  same  length  as  the 
jfirst,  but  so  narrow  as  to  be  little  more  than  a  terrace 
or  vaulted  antechamber  to  the  buildings  which  opened 
on  to  it. 

In  the  centre,  larger,  higher,  and  more  ornate  than 
the  others,  stood  an  apsidal  chamber,  or  chapel,  rest- 


90  'TWIXT    SAND    AND    SEA 

ing  upon  a  crypt  divided  into  five  vaults  ;  in  the 
middle  stood  an  altar.  This  was  the  garrison  church, 
in  which  were  guarded  the  consecrated  colours,  the 
eagles,  and  other  insignia  of  the  legion.^  The  under- 
croft, which  in  some  degree  shared  its  sanctity,  was 
probably  the  military  treasury.  To  the  right  lay 
the  cornicubium,  to  the  left  the  orderly  room  of  the 
equites  ;  another  chamber  was  the  tahularium  where 
the  records  and  archives  were  stored.  Others  were 
meeting-places  for  the  clubs  formed  by  the  optiones 
and  other  inferior  officers  of  the  legion. 

To  the  south-east  lay  the  Thermae.  The  south-west 
quarter  is  covered  with  the  buildings  and  garden  of 
the  House  of  Correction ;  this  part  has  not  been 
thoroughly  examined,  but  the  beauty  of  the  mosaic 
floors  which  have  been  found  proves  that  it  was 
covered  with  buildings  of  importance,  possibly  the 
quarters  of  the  commanding  officer.  The  rest  of 
the  camp  was  occupied  with  the  ordinary  buildings 
necessary  in  a  great  barrack  :  quarters  for  the  men, 
stables  for  the  horses,  guard-rooms,  sheds  for  the 
chariots  and  military  engines,  stores  for  ammunition 
for  the  catapults,  and  other  buildings  the  purpose 
of  which  cannot  now  be  determined. 

Such  was  a  permanent  Roman  camp  in  the  first 
century  of  our  era. 

But  such  a  camp  could  not  long  stand  alone. 
Soon,  naturally  and  inevitably,  it  became  the  centre 
of  a  considerable  population.  First  there  gathered, 
as  near  as  military  considerations  permitted,  mer- 
chants, contractors,  camp  followers,  and  so  on,  who  i 
supplied  the  needs  of  the  troops.  Then  the  soldiers 
were  permitted  to  marry,  and  houses  were  required  i 

1  There  was  no  other  temple  within  the  camp,  just  as,  at  Timgad,  there 
was  only  one,  in  the  Forum.  I 


THE    MARCH    OF    EMPIRE  91 

for  their  wives  and  families.  Then,  when  peace  was 
more  assured,  Septimius  Severus  gave  the  married 
men  permission  to  Uve  with  their  famihes  outside 
the  camp ;  at  last  it  would  seem  that  the  camp 
was  used  for  military  purposes  only,  and  was  left 
untenanted,  save  by  the  necessary  guards. 

And  so,  by  the  side  of  the  camp,  there  grew  up 
by  degrees  a  great  Roman  town,  with  all  that  such 
a  town  needed  to  make  it  beautiful  and  happy.  A 
triumphal  arch  to  Commodus  spanned  the  road  to 
Timgad,  and  another,  of  three  bays,  to  Septimius 
Severus,  testified    to   the   loyalty   of   the   legionaries 

ito  the  Berber  Emperor.  An  aqueduct  brought  the 
waters  of  the  Ain  Drinn  to  the  spacious  Thermae ; 
a  theatre  and  amphitheatre  supplied  amusements  ;  a 
Forum  for  business  and  pleasure,  temples  for  worship, 
and  the  town  was  complete. 

1  Of  the  temples,  the  most  important,  here  as  else- 
where, was  the  Capitol,  dedicated  to  the  three  supreme 
gods  of  Rome — Jupiter,  Juno,  and  Minerva — whose  vast 
temple  looked  down  from  the  Capitoline  Hill  at  Rome 
on  to  the  busy  Forum  and  stately  Palatine.  It  bore 
testimony  to  all  the  world  that  here,  on  the  extreme 
frontier  of  the  Empire,  Lambaesis  was  heart  and  soul 
Roman  still ;  for  with  Rome  then,  as  with  England 
now,  devotion  to  the  Mother  Country  increased  with 
distance  from  it,  and  the  flame  of  patriotism,  which 
burnt  very  dimly  at  home,  blazed  up  in  the  distant 
colonies. 

The  Capitol  of  Lambaesis  stood  in  the  midst  of  a 
iporticoed  enclosure.  In  front,  as  at  Rome,  there  were 
eight  pillars.  The  Cella,  which  was  seventy  feet  wide 
by  thirty-four  feet  deep,  was  divided  by  a  partition 
'wall  with  two  arches,  into  two  chambers ;  at  the 
end  of  each  was  a  square  niche  for  a  statue — a  most 


92  'TWIXT    SAND    AND    SEA 

unusual  arrangement,  which  makes  it  hard  to  under- 
stand how  the  images  of  the  three  divinities  were 
distributed. 

Another  temple,  to  ^Esculapius,  requires  notice  for 
the  strangeness  of  its  plan.  The  actual  sanctuary, 
which  held  the  statue  of  the  god  and  of  his  com- 
panion Hygieia,  stood,  like  the  Temples  of  Coelestis 
at  Dougga  and  elsewhere,  in  the  middle  of  a  semi- 
circular portico  flanked  by  chapels  dedicated  to  Jupiter 
Valens  and  Silvanus,  while  a  series  of  little  shrines  of 
different  deities  lined  the  north  side  of  the  avenue 
which  led  to  the  great  temple.  The  mosaic  floor  of 
the  second  from  the  Temple  bore  the  legend  : 

'•BONUS   INTRA   MELIOR    EXI." 

The  general  arrangements  seem  to  connect  the  temple 
with  Libyan  worship  rather  than  with  Roman,  but 
Eschmoun,  with  whom  ^sculapius  was  identified,  was 
a  Phoenician,  not  a  Libyan,  god,  and  the  presence  of 
the  other  gods  mentioned  above,  and  the  fact  that 
the  temple  was  built  over  some  hot  springs,  seem  to 
point  to  a  Roman  worship  of  the  god  of  healing. 

There  were  another  temple  and  two  more  triumphal 
arches,  one  over  the  road  to  Verecunda  (Marcouna), 
but  their  dedication  is  uncertain.  At  Verecunda, 
w^hich  was  a  sort  of  suburb  of  Lambaesis,  there  was 
another  arch  to  Marcus  Aurelius. 

Such,  with  its  dependencies,  was  Lambaesis,  the 
bridle  of  the  marauding  tribes  of  the  Sahara,  as 
Stirling  was  of  the  turbulent  Highlanders. 


CHAPTER    VI 

A    FRONTIER    TOWN 

A  COLD,  for  the  road  lies  nearly  four  thousand  feet 
above  the  sea,  and  somewhat  dreary  drive  of  nearly 
twenty  miles,  brings  us,  through  the  folding  hills  of 
the  treeless  and  half-desert  plateau,  to  the  Roman 
colony  of  Thamugadi  (Timgad). 

The  town  did  not  grow  by  degrees  and  at  hap- 
hazard, as  most  towns  do.  It  sprang  into  being  all 
at  once,  like  Minerva,  equipped  and  armed,  and  bears 
upon  the  surface  evident  traces  of  its  origin.  In  the 
year  a.d.  ioo,  Trajan,  wishing  to  reward  the  Legio 
Ulpia  Victrix  for  its  services  in  his  Parthian  cam- 
paign, determined  to  establish  a  settlement  of  veterans 
here,  and  entrusted  the  work  of  preparing  a  home 
for  them  to  the  Third  Legion  at  Lambaesis,  and  its 
commander,  the  Imperial  Legate  and  Propraetor, 
L.  Mutatius  Gallus.  How  well  the  work  was  done 
the  noble  remains  still  testify. 

It  is  usual  to  describe  Timgad  as  an  African 
Pompeii.  Both  are  ruined  towns,  partly  excavated, 
but  beyond  that  the  comparison  does  not  take  us 
far.  Fortunate  in  its  misfortune,  Pompeii  has  the 
romance  of  the  awful  catastrophe  which  destroyed 
it,  and  the  beauty  of  its  matchless  position  between 
the  purple  sea  and  the  vine-clad  slopes  of  its  terrible 
neighbour  Vesuvius  ;  Timgad  stands  lonely  and  deso- 
late in  its  austere  surroundings  of  treeless  mountains 
and  desert  plain.  Pompeii  was  a  watering-place  for 
?j   wealthy  idlers,  Timgad,  one  of  the  outpost  fortresses 


94  'TWIXT   SAND    AND    SEA 

of  the  Empire  ;  and  so,  in  place  of  the  large,  luxurious 
houses  of  Pompeii,  with  their  gardens  and  peristyles, 
the  houses  of  Timgad,  or,  at  any  rate,  those  within 
the  walls  of  the  city  proper,  are  small,  compact,  and 
cramped.  In  the  one  place  all  speaks  of  pleasure,  in 
the  other  of  stern  defence. 

Another  difference  is  harder  to  account  for,  but 
it  is  universal,  and  applies  not  to  Timgad  only,  but 
to  all  the  cities  of  North  Africa.  The  common  form 
of  decoration  at  Pompeii  was  fresco  ;  throughout 
North  Africa  the  remains  of  fresco  are  few  and  un- 
important,^ while  the  number  and  splendour  of  the 
mosaics,  on  wall  as  well  as  pavement,  are  amazing. 
Some  of  theni  in  Timgad  have  been  left  in  situ ; 
amongst  them  we  may  notice  those  in  the  great  South 
Thermae  and  the  exquisite  Baptistery  of  the  Monas- 
tery ;  for  the  most  part,  the  best  have  been  placed 
in  the  Museum.  The  figure  subjects  are  poor  in  com- 
parison with  some  which  have  been  found  elsewhere, 
such  as  the  Forge  of  Vulcan,  discovered  at  Dougga, 
but  others,  such  as  the  rose-pattern  floor  found  in  the 
house  of  Sertius,  are  so  beautiful  in  design  and  so  har- 
monious in  colour  that  it  is  difficult  to  see  how  this  most 
sumptuous  of  decorations  could  be  brought  to  greater 
perfection.  To  compare  the  decorations  of  a  small 
frontier  town  with  such  imperial  masterpieces  as  the 
mosaics  of  Ravenna  or  Monreale,  or  even  Venice,  is 
hardly  fair  ;  still,  although  there  is  no  gold  used,  no 
vast  wall-spaces  to  be  filled,  and  no  enhancement  of 
beautiful  architecture  as  at  S.  Vitale,  some  of  the  North 
African  mosaics  will  stand  even  such  a  test  as  this. 

Fortunately  the  town  has  never  been  used  as  a 
quarry   by   later   builders.     It   survived   the   Vandal 

^  Cyprian,  however,  speaks  of  a  house  at  Carthage,  probably  his  own,  as 
having  frescoed  walls.     Ad  Don.  xv. 


A    FRONTIER    TOWN  95 

invasion  almost  uninjured,  for  its  walls  had  been 
removed  long  before,  and  the  conquerors  did  not,  as  a 
rule,  injure  the  towns  themselves.  On  the  approach 
of  the  Byzantines,  in  a.d.  535,  the  natives  from  the 
mountains  hastily  burnt  and  wrecked  it,  to  deter  the 
enemy  from  settling  there.  Solomon,  however,  built  a 
great  fortress  on  the  south  slope  of  the  hill  on  which  the 
city  is  built,  and  the  inhabitants  seem  to  have  crept  back. 
The  Arab  invaders  never  settled  near  the  spot,  and  so  the 
town  remains  pretty  much  as  Solomon  found  it — the 
roofs  burnt,  pillars  and  walls  thrown  down,  but  the 
stones  left  lying  where  they  fell,  covered  and  preserved 
rather  than  injured  by  the  drifting  sand,  and  waiting 
only  to  be  unearthed  and  raised  into  their  places  again.^ 

The  site  chosen  by  Gallus  for  the  new  colony  was 
on  the  north  slope  of  a  rather  steep  hill,  intersected 
by  a  little  stream,  and  commanding  the  entrance  to 
the  gorges  of  the  Oued  Abdi  and  the  Oued  el  Abiod. 
Built  by  soldiers  for  soldiers  and  for  a  semi-military 
purpose,  it  is  natural  that  in  general  plan  it  should 
resemble  a  camp,  and  much  that  has  been  said  of 
Lambaesis  applies  to  Thamugadi,  except  that  the  place 
of  the  Pretorium,  in  the  centre  of  the  camp,  is  here 
occupied  by  the  Forum  and  theatre. 

As  originally  designed,  the  town  was  an  almost 
perfect  square  ;  its  sides  measured  three  hundred  and 
seventy  yards  by  three  hundred  and  forty,  and  faced 
the  four  points  of  the  compass.  No  traces  of  the 
original  walls  remain  ;  only  the  gates  and  the  broad 
boulevard  or  Pomoerium  which  surrounded  the  town 
on  both  sides  of  the  walls,  mark  where  they  stood. 

The  gates  were  four  in  number.  The  principal, 
to  the  north,  opened  upon  the  Cardo,  which  led  direct 
to  the  Forum,  where  it  stopped  short,  or,  more  pre- 

^  This  is  being  done  by  the  French  rapidly  and  with  rare  skill. 


96  TWIXT   SAND    AND   SEA 

cisely,  was  deflected  much  to  the  right.  From  the 
east  gate  to  the  west  ran  the  only  thoroughfare, 
along  which  passed  the  great  military  high  road 
from  Lambsesis  to  Maxula  (Khenchela)  and  Theveste 
(Tebessa)  ;  this  was  the  Decumanus  Maximus.  It  was 
a  broad  paved  road,  lined  on  each  side  with  porticoed 
footpaths ;  its  great  paving-stones  were,  as  usual, 
laid  aslant,  not  at  right  angles  to  the  paths,  to  pre- 
vent the  chariot-wheels  from  cutting  into  the  crevices 
between  the  stones  ;  in  spite  of  this  precaution,  it  is 
deeply  rutted,  like  the  streets  at  Pompeii,  the  gauge 
of  the  vehicles  being  the  same  in  each  case. 

In  addition  to  these  main  roads,  the  town,  except 
where  the  arrangement  was  interrupted  by  the  Forum 
and  theatre,  was  divided  into   identical  squares,  or  ■ 
insulse,  by  eighteen  other  parallel  streets,  nine  running 
in  each  direction. 

The  entire  town,  including  the  suburbs  outside  the 
walls,  covered  an  area  of  about  150  acres ;  of  these 
about  30  have  been  excavated. 

Outside  the  north  gate,  which  is  still  the  principal 
entrance,  lie  the  most  important  baths  or  thermse, 
large,  handsome,  and  complete,  built  with  the  same 
precise  symmetry,  and  almost  on  the  same  plan  as 
those  of  Caracalla  at  Rome.  Just  inside  the  gate 
stands,  to  the  right,  a  fountain  which  has  been  com- 
pletely restored,  and,  to  the  left,  a  little  Berber  Church. 
Higher  up,  to  the  right,  a  larger  Basilica  with  atrium 
and  Baptistery.  Higher  still,  on  the  left  hand,  we 
come  to  one  of  the  most  beautiful  and  interesting 
buildings  in  the  town.  A  graceful  pillared  portico 
opens  into  a  semicircular  shrine  with  niches  for 
statues.  The  purpose  is  uncertain  ;  perhaps  it  was 
a  Schola,  perhaps  a  library  ;  more  probably  it  was 
the  Lararium  Publicum,  the  Temple  of  the  Lares,  or 


. -.J - 


Arch  of  Trajan 


Forum,  Timgad 


A    FRONTIER    TOWN  97 

household  gods,  of  the  city.  If  this  is  correct,  the 
central  niche  held  a  shrine  of  the  Genius  Augustus, 
the  Emperor  being  represented  A\'ith  his  toga  drawn 
over  his  head,  offering  an  oblation  ;  to  his  right  and 
I  left  stood  the  Lares  of  the  city,  in  other  niches,  pro- 
bably Ceres  and  Venus.  This  building  was  not  a  part 
of  the  original  plan,  for  it  cuts  into  the  adjoining 
roads. 

Where  the  Cardo  meets  the  Decumanus  Maximus, 

I  a  flight  of  marble  steps  and  a  portico  lead  into  the 

'  Forum.    This  is  a  paved  court,  fifty  yards  long  by 

forty-four  wide,  surrounded  on  three  sides  by  a  colon- 

I  nade  lined  with  shops.     Standing  between  the  columns 

and  encroaching  on  the  space  of  the  court,  stood  a 

vast    assemblage    of    statues    of   gods,   including,   of 

course,  Marsyas  with   his  wine-skin,  emperors,  local 

celebrities  and  benefactors.     At  the  east  end  lay  the 

basilica,  a  fine  hall  of  the  ordinary  shape — that  is, 

square  at  one  end,  with  an  apse  at  the  other.     An 

unusual  feature  is  that  the  tribunal,  with  seats  for 

the  judges,  was    at   the    square  end.     In   the  niche 

opposite  stood  a  statue,  undoubtedly  of  Trajan. 

The  west  end  is  the  most  varied  and  interesting. 
In  the  middle,  interrupting  the  line  of  the  cloister, 
stood  a  little  iEdicula  or  shrine,  like  that  at  the 
entrance  of  the  Atrium  Vestae  at  Rome.  The  inscrip- 
tion tells  us  that  it  was  erected  to  Fortuna  Augusta 
by  two  sisters  in  accordance  with  the  will  of  their 
father.  To  the  south  stood  the  Rostra,  and,  behind 
them,  a  little  tetrastyle  temple,  probably  to  Victory ; 
\  in  front  of  it  stood  two  statues  erected  by  a  soldier 
i  of  the  Third  Legion  to  commemorate  the  Parthian 
Victory  of  Trajan,  Vidorice  Parthicce  Augustce  Sacrum. 
By  the  side  of  the  temple  was  a  little  waiting-room 
for  the  use  of  the  orators. 

G 


98  'TWIXT   SAND    AND    SEA 

In  the  south  of  the  temple  lay  the  Curia,  a  beautiful 
hall  adorned  with  marbles  and  mosaics ;  attached  to 
this  were  a  guard-room  and  prison  cells. 

The  south  side  of  the  Forum  was  occupied  with 
shops,  and  a  flight  of  steps  leading  up  to  the  theatre. 

On  the  pavement  of  the  Forum,  amongst  a  number 
of  tahulcB  lusoricB,  or  little  gaming-tables,  which  re- 
mind us  of  the  Basilica  Julia  at  Rome,  is  a  curious 
inscription — 

VENARI  LAVARI 

LUDERE  RIDERE 

OCC  EST  VITA 

'^  Hunting,  bathing,  gambling,  laughing — this  is  life." 
A  variation  of  the  old  epitaph — 

CORPORA  CORRUMPUNT 
BALNEUM  VINUM  VENUS 
SED  VITAM  FACIUNT 

*'  The  bath,  wine,  love,  destroy  the  body,  but  make 
life  worth  living." 

Above  the  Forum  lies  the  theatre,  the  Auditorium, 
as  usual,  when  practicable,  being  hollowed  out  of  the 
crest  of  the  hill.  The  seats  had  been  displaced  and 
the  pillars  had  fallen,  but  these  have  been  restored, 
and  it  is  now,  with  the  exception  of  that  at  Dougga, 
the  handsomest  and  most  complete  theatre  in  North 
Africa.     Enough  will  be  said  on  this  subject  elsewhere. 

To  the  east  of  the  Forum,  in  the  Decumanus,  lies 
a  graceful  little  market.  From  the  street-portico  an 
apse  opens  into  a  court,  the  far  side  of  which  is  formed 
by  two  semicircular  arcades,  each  divided  into  five 
stalls  or  shops.  The  front  of  each  of  these  is  closed 
by  a  stone  slab  or  table,  under  or  over  which  the 
merchant  had  to  climb.  The  point  where  the  two 
arcades  meet,  opposite  the  entrance,  was  occupied  by 


A    FRONTIER   TOWN  99 

an   altar ;  in   the  court    itself  were  two  semicircular 
basins,  either  fountains  or  flower-beds. 

Adjoining  the  market  are  some  small  thermae 
and  a  tiny  Basilica.  Other  thermae  stand  lower 
down  the  street  near  the  east  gate. 

Over  the  Decumanus,  where  it  enters  the  city  on 
the  west,  rises  the  magnificent  arch  called  the  Arch  of 
Trajan.  It  received  its  name  from  some  inscriptions 
which  have  been  found  near  it ;  judging,  however, 
from  the  architecture,  it  was  probably  not  erected 
until  about  a.d.  200.  It  has  three  openings,  like 
that  of  Constantine  at  Rome.  The  small  lateral 
arches  are  surmounted  by  square-headed  niches  for 
statues.  In  front  stood  four  Corinthian  columns 
resting  upon  lofty  bases.  They  rose  to  the  height 
of  the  central  arch  and  carried  a  bold  cornice,  which, 
running  in  a  straight  line  over  the  main  entrance, 
bent  into  graceful  curves  over  the  lateral  niches.  The 
attic  has  vanished. 

With  the  exception  of  that  at  Tebessa,  it  is  the 
most  perfect  and  beautiful  of  all  the  countless  triumphal 
arches  of  North  Africa. 

Outside  the  arch,  to  the  right,  lay  the  temple  of  the 

!  genius  of  the  colony.     ''Genio  Coloniae  Thamug," 

j  so  runs  the  inscription  on  an  altar. 

I        Three  flights  of  steps  led  from  the  street  into  the 

I  very  irregularly  shaped  court  of  the  temple.     Round 

!  it  was  a  colonnade  containing  a  number  of  statues  of 

i  gods  :    Jupiter,  Juno,  Minerva,  Bacchus,  Mars,   Liber 

Pater,   Silvanus,  Deus  Patrius,   and   others.     In   the 

centre  stood  the  altar ;    behind  this,  raised  upon    a 

s  lofty  podium,  was  the  Cella,  which  has  perished ;  four 

of  the    columns  of   its    porch  have,   however,  been 

re-erected. 

On  the  other  side  of  the  road  lay  the  great  market. 


100  'TWIXT    SAND    AND    SEA 

This,  as  numerous  inscriptions  tell  us,  was  the  gift  of 
Marcus  Plotius  Faustus,  surnamed  Sertius — a  Roman 
knight,  an  officer  of  the  auxiliary  troops,  a  Priest  of 
Rome,  and  Flamen  of  the  Emperor — and  of  his  wife, 
Cornelia  Valentina  Tucciana.  It  was  a  large,  hand- 
some court,  surrounded  as  usual  by  a  colonnade.  In 
the  centre  was  a  fountain  ;  at  the  north  end  stood  six 
shops.  At  the  opposite  end  two  steps  led  up  into  a 
great  apse  like  the  tribunal  of  a  basilica  ;  round  this, 
spreading  out  like  a  fan,  were  seven  shops,  each  closed 
by  a  big  stone  counter  like  those  of  the  eastern  market. 
Close  by  was  another,  the  cloth  market.  Forum  Ves- 
tiarium,  and  some  more  thermae. 

Higher  up  still,  and  dominating  the  city  from  the 
brow  of  the  hill,  rose  the  huge  mass  of  the  magnificent 
Capitol.  We  enter  it  by  a  vast  porch,  erected,  after 
the  destruction  of  the  old  one,  by  Publilius  Ceironius 
Ca^cina  Julianus,  a  man  of  senatorial  rank  and 
governor  of  the  province  of  Numidia.  The  other 
three  porticoes  which  surrounded  the  court  of  the 
temple  and  were  erected  at  the  same  time,  have 
fallen.  The  work  is  late  and  bad.  The  court  itself 
measures  nearly  one  hundred  yards  by  seventy,  and 
is  barbarously  paved  with  carved  and  inscribed  pieces 
of  friezes  and  architraves  and  other  fragments.  In 
the  centre  stood  an  immense  altar ;  beyond  it,  at  the 
top  of  a  flight  of  thirty  steps,  rose  the  temple  itself. 
Its  proportions,  though  not  to  be  compared  with  those 
of  the  temple  at  Girgenti,  where  a  man  can  stand  in 
one  of  the  flutings  of  the  columns,  are  considerable. 
Technically,  the  temple  is  what  is  called  hexastyle 
peripteral  stylobate — that  is,  there  were  six  columns 
in  front,  and  a  complete  colonnade  of  similar  detached 
columns  ran  round  the  building,  which  stood  upon  a 
platform  or    podium.     Each   column  was  forty    feet 


Capitol,  Dougga 


rr   ' 

-  - —  ^  -         ^'j^ 


«4' 


Ir- 


j»t*.  ,t-., 


Capitol,   Sbeitla 


A    FRONTIER    TOWN  mi 

high,  the  capital  adding  another  six  feet ;  they  are 
therefore  about  the  same  size  as  those  of  the  Templum 
Castorum  in  the  Forum  at  Rome.  The  Cella  of  the 
temple  had  three  niches  for  the  great  Roman  triad,  or 
else  was  divided  into  three  chambers.  The  central 
statue  of  Jupiter  was  twenty-three  feet  high.  This 
statue,  which  is  now  in  the  Louvre,  was  seated ;  the 
other  two — that  of  Juno  to  his  right,  and  Minerva  to 
his  left — were  standing. 

This  was  the  normal  form  of  a  Roman  capitol. 
It  was  departed  from  for  some  reason  at  Lambaesis. 
A  more  splendid  form  still  is  found  in  the  magnificent 
Capitol  at  Sufetula  (Sbeitla).  There  the  immense  court, 
one  hundred  and  eighty  yards  long  by  eighty  wide, 
was  so  strong  that  it  was  afterwards  converted  into 
a  Byzantine  fortress.  It  was  entered  by  a  noble 
monumental  gateway  dedicated  to  Antoninus  Pius  ; 
round  it,  on  three  sides,  ran  a  double  cloister.  Opposite 
the  entrance  gateway,  instead  of  a  single  temple  with 
three  niches,  stood  three  distinct  temples  separated 
by  handsome  gateways.  The  central  sanctuary  is 
composite ;  the  other  two,  which  are  smaller,  are 
Corinthian  ;  the  work  throughout  is  excellent. 

One  of  the  smallest,  and  certainly  the  loveliest,  of 
these  temples  is  at  Thugga  (Dougga).  The  inevitable 
inscription  informs  us  that  it  was  built  in  honour  of 
Jupiter  Optimus  Maximus,  Juno  Regina,  and  Minerva 
Augusta,  by  two  brothers,  Lucius  Marcius  Simplex 
and  Lucius  Marcius  Simplex  Regillanus,  in  the  reign 
of  Marcus  Aurelius  and  Lucius  Verus.  In  the  centre 
of  the  pediment,  which  rests  on  four  columns,  is  a 
curious  carving  of  an  eagle  carrying  a  man  up  to 
heaven,  probably  an  imperial  apotheosis.  Standing 
at  the  top  of  the  almost  precipitous  hill  on  which 
the  city  is  built,  and  silhouetted  against  the  sky,  this 


102  'TWIXT   SAND    AND    SEA 

little  temple  is  perhaps  the  most  beautiful  ruin  in 
Africa. 

''  Minervae  Augustse."  This  epithet  of  "  Augustus  " 
is  very  commonly  applied  not  only  to  emperors,  but 
also  to  deities  and  to  those  personified  virtues  to 
which,  or  to  whom,  the  Romans  were  fond  of  dedi- 
cating temples  ever  since  the  day  when,  in  354  B.C., 
AtiHus  Calatinus  dedicated  the  Temple  of  Hope,  the 
ruins  of  which  now  lie  under  the  Church  of  S.  Nicolo 
in  Carcere  at  Rome. 

At  Dougga  the  neighbouring  temple  is  dedicated 
to  "  Coelesti  Aug.,"  another  is  to  "  Pietati  Augustae," 
another  to  "  Fortunse  Augustse."  At  Tebessa  we  read 
"  Apollini  Aug.  Thevestin,"  and  again  "  Virtuti  Aug, 
Thevest."  "  Saturno  Augusto  "  is  the  usual  phrase 
on  the  votive  tablets  which  are  found,  literally,  in 
hundreds.  At  Lambaesis  we  find  "  Genio  Virtutum 
Marti  Augusto";  another,  "Genio  Augusto."  This 
introduces  another  interesting  word  "  Genius,"  and  this 
also  is  common.  We  have  noticed  one  at  Timgad, 
"  Genio  Colonise  Thamugadensium  ;  "  the  Capitol  at 
Lambessa  is  dedicated  "  Genio  Lambaesis,"  as  well  as 
to  the  great  triad.  This  cult  of  Genii,  a  sort  of  pre- 
Christian  guardian  angel  or  patron  saint,  became 
universal  in  the  Roman  Empire,  as  it  still  is  in  the 
Roman  Church  ;  every  community  or  association  of 
men,  for  whatever  purpose,  political  or  professional, 
had  one.^  At  Rome  a  special  shield  to  the  Genius 
of  the  city  hung  in  the  Capitol,  bearing  the  com- 
prehensive inscription  with  which  many  are  familiar 
on  the  altar  at  the  foot  of  the  Palatine  Hill — "  Sei  Deo 
Sei  Deiv^  sacrum."  It  is  little  wonder  that  from 
the  Imperial  city  it  spread  even  to  the  little  towns 
of  distant  Africa. 

'  In  the  Forum  at  Rome  is  a  slab  inscribed  "  Genio  aquarum.'' 


A    FRONTIER    TOWN  103 

Such  then  in  part  was  Timgad  ;  in  part  only,  for 
nothing  has  been  said  of  its  great  monastery  or  huge 
Byzantine  fortress,  or,  even  more  important  still,  the 
numerous  fountains  which  adorned  the  public  streets 
and  testified  to  the  abundant  supply  of  water.  And, 
be  it  remembered,  Timgad  was  never  a  large  or  im- 
portant city.  To  us  it  is  interesting  because  the 
circumstances  of  its  foundation  left  its  builders  free 
to  carry  out  their  plans  unembarrassed  by  conditions 
of  space,  or  consideration  for  existing  buildings ;  and 
more  especially  because  the  remoteness  of  its  site  and 
the  circumstances  of  its  decay  have  saved  its  ruins 
from  later  destruction,  and  from  being  drawn  upon 
for  the  erection  of  more  modern  towns. 


CHAPTER    VII 

COUNTRY  LIFE 

Mare  scBvum,  littus  importuosum,  ager  frugum  fertilis, 
bonus  pecori,  arbori  in/ecundus  ccbIo  terraque  penuria 
aquarum}  "A  dangerous  sea,  a  coast  with  few  har- 
bours, good  arable  and  pasture  land,  but  badly  wooded 
owing  to  shortage  of  water,  insufficient  rainfall,  and  a 
scarcity  of  springs  or  rivers."  Such  was  Sallust's 
description  of  North  Africa,  when  he  saw  it  before 
the  Roman  occupation  had  become  effective  ;  and  it 
is  true  and  exact  now  that  the  Golden  Age  has  passed 
away.  Now,  as  it  was  then  and  always  will  be,  the 
difficulty  is  the  water  supply.  The  land,  even  the 
sand  of  the  Sahara,  is  fertile  ;  all  it  needs  is  water — 
as  in  the  vision  of  Ezekiel,  "  Everything  shall  live 
whither  the  river  Cometh."  This  difficulty  the  Romans 
faced  and  overcame  with  astonishing  energy,  per- 
severance, and  success. 

To-day,  after  thirteen  hundred  years  of  Arab  de- 
vastation and  neglect,  recovery  seems  to  be,  and 
largely  is,  hopeless.  It  is  difficult,  even  in  imagina- 
tion, to  recall  the  days  when,  to  Horace,^  an  African 
farm  was  a  synonym  for  boundless  fertility,  prosperity, 
and  wealth.  Hour  after  hour,  sometimes  day  after 
day,  the  traveller  passes  through  desert  and  treeless, 
because   waterless,    wastes.      From    the    hills    which 

"•  Jug.  xvii. 

2  e.g.  "  Si  proprio  condidit  horreo 
Quicquid  de  Libycis  verritur  areis." — Carm.  ii.  li. 
104 


COUNTRY  LIFE  105 

skirt  the  horizon,  stripped  of  their  forest  clothing  by 
fire  and  wanton  destruction,  the  rains  have  washed 
down  all  the  soil  into  the  plains  below ;  and  now 
they  rise  against  the  sky  grim  and  barren,  mere 
splintered  skeletons  of  what  they  once  were,  but  can 
never  be  again.  Here  and  there  some  relics  of  their 
former  glories  remain.  Splendid  cedars  still  tassel  the 
heights  of  Teniet-el-Had  in  the  Ouarsenis,  of  Tourgour 
and  above  Khenchela  in  the  Aures,  and  of  the  Atlas 
above  Blidah.  Vast  forests  of  cork-trees  still  clothe 
the  Djebel  Edough  near  Bone,  and  the  beautifully 
wooded  gorge  of  the  Medjerba,  between  Souk  Ahras 
and  Mdaourouch,  gives  an  idea  of  what  North  Africa 
was  in  the  days  of  its  prosperity. 

Originally,  what  is  now  an  exception  must  have 
been,  in  many  parts,  the  rule.  Large  tracts  of  moun- 
tain and  plain,  now  barren  and  treeless,  must  have 
been  well  wooded  with  forest  or  jungle.  Elephants  ' 
were  common  and  formed  the  strength  of  the  Cartha- 
ginian armies ;  Juba  lost  the  battle  of  Thapsus  be- 
cause his  elephants  had  only  recently  been  brought 
in,  wild,  from  the  forests  and  were  untrained  for  war — 
bellorum  rudes  et  nuperi  a  silvd  ; !  wild  animals,  especi- 
ally deer,  abounded  ;  the  mosaics  in  the  houses  show 
us  pictures  of  hunting  scenes  in  which  the  game  are 
not  only  hares  and  deer,  but  lions,  tigers,  leopards, 
and  wild  boar.  At  Kef  (Sicca  Veneria)  Flaubert 
places  his  historically  true  episode  of  the  multitude 
of   crucified   lions ;     not   only   the   amphitheatres    of 

1  The  word  "elephant"  is  Libyan,  "  Fil,"  adopted  by  the  Greeks,  first 
as  "Ephelas"  then  as  "  Elephas."  I  have  found  no  representation  of 
elephants  in  mosaic. 

The  first  notice  that  I  can  find  of  camels  is  that  Caesar's  booty  after  the 
battle  of  Thapsus  included  twenty-two  camels.  Later  on,  in  the  third  and 
fourth  centuries,  the  Roman  generals  in  Tripoli  requisitioned  them  by 
thousands  for  the  carriage  of  water. 

^  Flor.  vi.  2,  67. 


io6  'TWIXT   SAND   AND   SEA  | 

Africa,  but  even  the  Colosseum  of  Rome,  were  sup- J 
plied  from  these  sources. 

Still,  in  spite  of  the  amount  of  forest  which  this 
implies,  and  the  fact  that,  so  far  as  Punic  occupation 
extended,  the  cultivation  of  the  country  had  been 
thorough  and  scientific,  the  difficulties  which  the 
Romans  had  to  face  were  serious,  and  they  met  them 
in  the  only  possible  way — by  the  systematic  storage 
and  distribution  of  the  water. 

Not   less   wonderful   than  the   countless    ruins  of 
cities  and  private  houses  are  the  ruined  waterworks —    I 
ruins  which  strew  not  only  the  fertile  plains,  but  also 
the  high  desolate    plateaux,  where  to-day  the  half- 
nomad  Berbers  find  it  hard  to  eke  out  an   existence. 
Every  stream  or  river  which    now  pours  its  wasted 
waters  into  chott  or  sand  or  sea,  shows  signs  of  having 
been  carefully  barraged  at  frequent  intervals,  and  the 
water  distributed  far  and  wide   by  subsidiary  canals,    i 
Every  country-house  had  its  wells    and  tanks,  every    I 
city  and  town  its  vast  system  of  cisterns   and  aque-    ,1 
ducts. ^      Carthage   drew  its   supply  from  the  hills  of 
Zaghouan,  sixty  miles  away  ;    the  arches  of  its  aque- 
duct can  still   be  seen  striding  across  the  plain  near 
Oudna,    and   the   tunnels   bored   through   the    inter- 
vening hills  are  still  in  use  for  their  old  purpose  ;   the 
enormous  cisterns   where    the  water  was  stored    still 
exist   at   La   Malga    and  near    Bordj-el-Djedid ;    the 
latter  are  still  in  use,  the  former  house  a  colony  of 
natives  and  their  cattle. 

At  El  Djem  (Thysdrus),  where  now  the  lonely 
amphitheatre  rises  forlorn  in  the  midst  of  a  desert, 
an  inscription  tells  us  that  a  certain  magistrate  brought 

^  Aqueducts  have  been  found  at  Constantine,  Timgad,  Lambessa, 
Sbeitla,  Dougga,  Khamissa,  Tebessa,  Chemtou,  Souk-el-Arba,  Mactar 
Simittu,  Oued  Maliz,  Cherchel,  and  Tipasa. 


D 

Q 

a 

D 

at 
< 


I 


COUNTRY   LIFE  107 

water  in  such  abundance  that,  after  providing  for  the 

wants  of  a  city  with  a  population  of  about  a  hundred 

thousand,  enough  remained  to  supply  private   houses 

on    payment    of     a    water-rate,    aqua    adducta  .  .  . 

colonicB    sufficiens    et    per    plateas    lacubus    impertita, 

domihus    etiam    certa    conditione    concessa}     Another 

inscription  found  at   Guelma   (Calama)  tells  how  "  in 

the  most  blessed  times  of  our  Lords  Valentinian  and 

Valens   (a.d.  364-375)/'   a  tank  which  had  formerly 

received  only  a  tiny  trickle  of  water,  now  overflowed 

I  with  "waters  which  roared    like  thunder,"  owing  to 

I  the  restorations  effected  by  "  Quintus  Bacillus   Flac- 

'  cianus.  Perpetual  Flamen,  Augur  and  Curator    Rei- 

'  publicse."  ^     Inscriptions   of   the    same   kind   abound 

elsewhere ;  ^     but    these    instances    are    sufficient    to 

I  illustrate  what  was  going  on  everywhere. 

I        On    agricultural  questions,  the  Romans,  profiting 

by  the  experience  of  their  predecessors,  took  as  their 

guide  the  writings  of  the  Carthaginian,  Magon.     In  the 

broken  land  and  clearings  they  bred  sheep  and  goats, 

saddle-horses  and  huge  oxen,  strong  to  labour.     Olives, 

,  date-palms,  and  figs  yielded  their  fruit  ;  the  vine  was 

;  cultivated   for    raisins   as  well   as   for    wine ;    in   the 

'  deep  soil  of  the  plains  they  grew  corn,  so   luxuriant 

';  that   Pliny  *   tells    us    of    a   procurator    who  sent   to 

I  Augustus  a  single  ear  containing  four  hundred  grains, 

1  and  in  such  quantities  that  Africa  became  the  granary 

I  of  Rome.    Thence  came  the  annona,^  the  daily  bread 

'  of  the  vast  capital,  which  was  so  dependent   upon  it 

'C.I.L.  SI.  '  /^/'/.,  5335- 

'  Cf.  C.I.L.  8809,  found  at  Bordj  bou  Areridj.     Also  C. I.L.  440, 

*  H.N.  xviii.  21.     Another,  containing  360  grains,  was  sent  to  Nero. 

I        ^  The   annona   or  annonn   iniHiatis  was   originally   the   supply  requi- 
;   sitioned  for  an  army  on  active  service,  and  raised  by  an  Imperial  decree, 

\qx  indictio.     It  was  made  an  annual  contribution  in  AD.  289.     Africa  was 

I  assessed  at  one  and  a  half  million  bushels  of  wheat. 


io8  'TWIXT   SAND   AND   SEA 

that  the  man  who  held  Africa  could  starve  Rome. 
So  precious  was  this  supply  that  it  was  deified  and 
became  a  goddess ;  ^  the  vast  granaries  which  we 
still  see  at  Ostia  were  built  to  contain  it ;  it  set 
the  worthless,  unemployable  rabble  of  Rome  free  to 
amuse  themselves  in  circus  or  amphitheatre.^  What 
Canada  and  America  are  to  England,  that,  and  more, 
Africa  was  to  Rome. 

As  the  country  had  been  conquered,  the  land  was 
treated  as  the  property  of  the  victors.  Large  tracts, 
especially  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  towns,  were 
divided  into  farms,  and  either  sold  to  great  Roman 
capitalists  or  assigned  to  the  veteran  legionaries  who 
were  planted  there  to  colonise  the  country.  The 
natives  were  in  such  cases  either  deported  to  other 
parts  of  the  province  or  driven  up  into  the  mountains, 
to  be  for  ever  a  standing  menace  to  the  plains.  If 
they  were  allowed  to  remain,  they  had  to  be  content 
to  cultivate  the  waste,  because  poorer,  lands,  living 
in  their  little  mapalia,  or  huts,  like  Peggotty's  boat 
at  Yarmouth,  quasi  navium  carincB.^ 

But  this  did  not  last  long.  Even  in  those  days 
when  "  competition,"  as  we  know  it,  could  hardly 
be  said  to  exist,  a  man  did  not  become  a  skilful  farmer 
simply  by  being  put  in  possession  of  a  small  holding. 
In  Italy  one  agrarian  law  had  soon  to  be  followed 
by  another  ;  and  in  Africa  the  small  farmers  were 
soon  swallowed  up  by  the  great  landowners,  such  as 
Pompeianus  at  Oued  Atmenia;  the  Pullaeni,  who  dis- 

'  She  is  represented  in  statues  with  shoulder  and  arms  bare,  a  crescent 
on  her  head,  spikes  of  corn  in  one  hand  and  a  cornucopia  in  the  other.  The 
great  relief  of  Abundance  at  Carthage  is  not  unlike  one  of  these  fanciful 
representations.  In  the  Capitol  at  Rome  is  an  altar  inscribed,  "Annonse 
Sanctai  y^Llius  Vitulus." 

^  "  Parce  et  messoribus  illis 
Qui  saturant  urbem  circo  scenaeque  vacantem." — Juv.  viii.  115. 
*  Jug.  xviii. 


COUNTRY   LIFE  109 

possessed  the  Marian  veterans  at  Uci  Majus ;  the  Arrii 
Antonini  at  Mileve ;  or  the  Lolhi  at  Oued  Smendu 
near  Constantine.  It  was  in  A:^rica  that  CseHus 
gathered  the  fortune  which  his  son  wasted.  Cornehus 
Nepos  ^  tells  us  of  a  certain  Julius  Calidus  who  was 
prosecuted  in  order  that  his  immense  possessions  in 
Africa  might  be  confiscated.  An  inscription  informs  us 
that  Julius  Martianus,  who  had  commanded  the  Third 
Legion  as  Legate  of  Numidia^  had  great  possessions, 
on  which  he  held  a  market,  at  Mascula  (Khenchela). 
Meanwhile  the  old  independent  yeomen  either  deserted 
the  land  or  became  conductores  or  tenant  farmers  ; 
and  by  the  same  process  the  free  coloni  or  peasants 
sank  gradually  into  the  position  of  serfs  (vernulcB), 
tied  to  the  soil  and  bought  and  sold  with  it,  or  gave  up 
the  struggle  in  despair  and  flocked  into  the  towns  to 
swell  the  ranks  of  the  unemployed,  and  to  be  fed  and 
amused  at  the  town's  expense. 

Writing  in  the  first  century  of  our  era,  the  elder 
PHny^  deplores  the  change  as  the  ruin  of  the  Empire. 
"The  Latifundia,"  he  says,  "have  destroyed  Italy; 
they  will  soon  have  destroyed  the  colonies  also." 
So  early  as  in  the  time  of  Nero,  he  adds,  six  men 
owned  half  the  province  of  Africa.  The  Emperor, 
he  goes  on  to  say,  killed  them  all  and  seized  their 
estates.  To  estimate  the  size  of  these  great  properties 
is  difficult ;  the  French  Concession  of  three  hundred 
thousand  acres  at  Enfidaville  would  probably  be 
a  fair  modern  parallel.  The  villa  of  Hadrian,  near 
Tivoli,  with  its  baths,  theatre,  library,  paecile,  and 
canals,  would  give  a  not  very  exaggerated  idea  of 
the  vast  palaces  which  stood  on  them.  Ringed 
round  with  villages  for  the  slaves  and  other  em- 
ployes, we  are  told  that  they  looked  more  like  towns 

^  Vit.  Att.  xii.  2  H.N.  xviii,  75. 


no  'TWIXT   SAND   AND   SEA 

than  private  houses.  "  Prsestant  multarum  urbium 
faciem." 

Everything  that  we  see  combines  to  give  an  idea 
of  wonderful  prosperity  and  wealth.  Everywhere  we 
find  aqueducts,  cisterns,  and  barrages,  telling  us  of 
practical  common  sense  and  of  wealth  worthily  used. 
Temples,  theatres,  triumphal  arches,  amphitheatres, 
circuses,  thermae,  bear  testimony  to  a  vigorous  muni- 
cipal life  and  ardent  patriotism  in  the  country  and 
in  the  towns,  and  to  the  wealth  and  liberality  of  the 
people.  In  the  cool  halls  of  the  private  houses  foun- 
tains played,  the  bright  colours  of  flowers  glowed  in 
marble  stands,'  and  the  walls  and  floors  were  inlaid 
with  mosaics,  which,  in  richness  and  variety  of  pattern 
and  wonderful  harmony  of  colour,  have  never  been 
surpassed.  All  tells  of  ease  and  luxury,  of  a  society 
peaceful  and  satisfied,  tranquil  and  untroubled,  going 
about  its  daily  work  with  well-ordered  industry,  and 
reserving  the  best  of  its  hours  for  rest,  pleasure,  and 
amusement — a  life  of  refined,  enervating  ease. 

Fortunately,  although  the  great  country-houses 
have  perished,  we  are  not  left  without  guidance  in 
forming  an  idea  of  their  appearance,  and  of  the 
occupations  of  their  inhabitants.  Africa  is,  above  all 
others,  a  land  of  mosaics,  and  what  the  inscriptions 
are  to  the  towns,  the  mosaics  are  to  the  country. 
And  so,  taking  these  for  our  guides,  let  us  try  to 
picture  the  daily  life  and  surroundings  of  one  of  these 
country  magnates,  of  the  men  who  laid  them  down, 
and  trod  them  day  by  day.  The  best  are,  for  the 
most  part,  preserved  in  museums — in  the  Bar  do  at 
Tunis,  at  Sousse,  Timgad,  Tebessa,  and  elsewhere. 
This  is  fortunate   and  necessary,  for  most  of  them 

^  A  very  beautiful  example    of  this  is  to  be  found  in  a  house  at  the 
corner  of  the  Forum  at  Timgad,  known  as  that  oi  La  Jardiniere. 


COUNTRY   LIFE  iii 

rested  upon  little  pillars  over  hypocausts — that  is, 
hot-air  chambers — and  so  were  liable  to  be  broken, 
even  without  the  assistance  of  the  omnipresent  Arab 
treasure-hunter. 

For  the  most  part,  and  this  is  significant,  they 
deal  with  outdoor,  not  with  indoor  life.  In  the  Bardo 
at  Tunis  is  one  of  the  few  which  belong  to  the  latter 
class.  It  represents  a  dinner-party  :  nine  tables  have 
been  laid,  at  each  of  which  sit  three  guests,  all  men. 
In  the  centre,  men  are  dancing  to  an  accompaniment 
of  drums,  pipes,  and  large  metal  cymbals  and  cas- 
tanets. We  can  still  hear  the  same  music,  played  on 
I  the  same  instruments,  by  the  negro  clowns  from  the 
i!  Soudan. 

!  In  another  way  these  mosaics  help  us  to  picture 
the  homes  of  the  wealthy  Romans,  by  giving  us  an 
idea  of  the  size  of  the  rooms  they  were  designed  for. 
'  Many  of  them  must  have  been  large,  some  very  large. 
One  mosaic,  representing  the  Triumph  of  Neptune, 
comes  from  Sousse ;  it  measures  seventy  feet  by 
fifty-four.  For  the  most  part,  these  houses  were  like 
mediaeval  palaces — spacious  reception-rooms,  and  smaU 
f|  rooms  to  live  in. 

^1       As  already  said,  the  majority  of  the  mosaics  deal 

' !  with  outdoor  life  and  sports.     A  large  example,  found 

'.  at  El    Djem,   and   remarkable  for  the  freedom   and 

I  excellence  of  the    drawing,  gives  a  series  of  hunting 

I  scenes.     The  first  shows  us  two  men  on  horseback 

;  with  a  beater  between  them.     The  horses  are  bridled, 

but   have  no   saddles.     The   riders    are  bare-headed, 

i  and  hold  whips  in  their  hands,  but  they  are  unarmed, 

i  as  they  are  hunting  nothing  more  formidable  than  a 

hare.     The  second  contains  two  scenes ;    first  we   see 

a  keeper  scarcely  able,  with  all  his   strength,  to  hold 

I  in  two  large  hounds  who  are  straining  at  the   leash ; 


112  'TWIXT   SAND    AND    SEA 

then  the  hounds  are  shpt,  and  are  baying  at  a  hare  ] 
which  is  lying  in  its  form.     The  last  represents  the 
kill.     The  two  hunters  are  in  full  cry,  and  the  hounds 
are  close  upon    the  hare,  which — a  curiously  natural 
touch — has  doubled  back  to  the  form. 

Bathing  and  fishing  were  favourite  subjects.  In 
one  mosaic  a  number  of  boys  are  bathing.  One  stands 
hesitating  on  the  bank ;  another  has  taken  a  header, 
and  is  just  striking  the  water;  another  is  swimming 
with  a  long,  easy  side-stroke ;  while  another  is  being 
swallowed  by  a  huge  fish.  Yet  another  is  fishing 
from  the  bank  and  has  just  hooked  a  big  octopus. 

Mosaics  which  represent  fishing  are   common,  but, 
as  a  rule,  they  treat  it  as  a  bit  of  work  and  business, 
not  of  amusement  or  pleasure.      It  is  done  with  long  : 
heavy  nets  which  are    being  dragged  in,  usually  by 
men,  but  in  one  case  by  oxen. 

From  Tabarka  comes  a  series  of  three  semicircular 
mosaics,  which  originally  filled  the  recesses  of  a  tre- 
foiled  room.  They  represent  a  farm,  and  all  the 
varied  work  connected  with  it.  In  the  centre  of  one 
is  a  large  building  with  two  towers  and  great  open 
gateways ;  it  stands  in  a  rose-garden,  planted  with 
olive-trees,  under  which  pigeons,  pheasants,  and  par- 
tridges ^  are  feeding ;  below  is  a  lake  with  swans,  geese, 
and  ducks,  swimming,  drinking,  or  flapping  their  wings. 
A  second  shows  us  the  farm  with  olives,  vines,  and 
pigeons.  The  third  gives  the  stables ;  horses  are  tied 
up  ready  to  be  groomed ;  in  the  corner  a  woman  is 
sitting  spinning ;  all  round  are  olives  and  vines,  with 
sheep  and  partridges. 

Another,  still  more  elaborate,  shows  men  plough- 
ing ;  a  shepherd  is  folding  his  flock  of  sheep  and  goats ; 
a  horse  is  being  groomed ;  another  is  being  watered, 

^  Or,  it  may  be,  guinea  fowl. 


COUNTRY  LIFE  113 

at  just  such  a  well  as  we  still  see  in  the  fields ;  a 
man,  on  his  hands  and  knees,  disguised,  apparently, 
in  a  skin,  is  driving  partridges  into  a  great  snare  net ; 
men  and  dogs  are  chasing  a  wild  boar  which  has 
turned  at  bay  ;  other  men,  on  horseback,  are  hunting 
a  tiger ;  while  more  gentle  swains  are  sitting  under 
the  trees  piping  to  their  flocks. 

By  far  the  most  complete  and  interesting  series 
of  such  mosaics  was  discovered  in  1878  at  Oued 
Atmenia,  about  twenty  miles  from  Const antine  on  the 
road  to  Setif.  Unfortunately  they  have  been  entirely 
destroyed  by  the  Arabs  in  their  search  for  treasure  ; 
but  before  this  they  were  carefully  examined  and 
copied  by  the  Archaeological  Society  of  Constantine. 
Some  have  been  reproduced  in  colour  by  the  Society, 
Two  are  shown  by  Tissot  in  his  Geographic  comparde^ 
I    de  la  Province  Romaine  d'A/rique. 

The  building  first   discovered  was  the    Thermae  ; 

!    this  was  so  vast  and  splendid  that  it  was    thought 

\    that  it  must  belong  to  some  large  town  ;   but  further 

excavations  proved  that  this  was  not  the   case,  and 

that  it  was  simply  part  of  a  private  house  belonging 

to  a  man  called  Pompeianus. 

In  the  Laconicum,  or  hot  chamber,  the  mosaic  is 
divided  into  four  compartments,  one  above  another. 
The  upper  two  show  the  house  and  garden,  the  other 
two  the  favourite  horses  from  the  stud  of  the  owner. 

In  front  is  the  house  with  the  owner's  name  over 
it,  Pompeianus.  It  is  a  timbered  structure,  very 
'  Elizabethan  in  appearance.  The  main  building  is  two 
i  storeys  high,  with  a  lofty  roof  ;  in  the  centre  is  a  para- 
j  peted  tower  rising  to  the  height  of  four  storeys — that 
ti  is,  one  storey  clear  above  the  roof  of  the  house  itself. 
At  the  two  extremities  are  projecting  wings,  also  with 
I  high  roofs.     Beyond  these  are  two  pavilions  or  porches, 

H 


114  'TWIXT   SAND   AND   SEA 

opening  into  the  garden  which  hes  behind  ;  over  these 
are  palm-trees.  The  garden  itself  is  a  hortus  inclusus 
walled  in,  and  laid  out  in  beds  of  a  stiff,  formal  geo- 
metrical pattern  ;  in  the  middle  of  the  back  wall  is  a 
sort  of  Casino  or  summer-house. 

Below,  in  the  other  two  rows,  are  six  horses  tied 
to  mangers  ;  in  each  row  two  horses  share  a  manger, 
while  the  third  has  one  to  himself ;  as  usual,  over 
each  horse  is  its  name,  sometimes  with  a  few  words 
of  praise  or  affection.  In  the  first  row  are  Delicatus, 
with  a  manger  to  himself;  then  Pullentianus  and 
Altus.  The  last  is  thus  apostrophised  :  '' Altus  unus 
ES  UT  MONS  EXULTAS  " — "  Altus,  there  is  none  like  you ; 
you  skip  like  a  mountain  " — a  curiously  biblical  meta- 
phor.^ In  the  bottom  row  are  Scholasticus,  by 
himself,  Titas  and  Polydoxus.  While  Altus  was  the 
favourite  hunter,  Polydoxus  was  evidently  the  favourite 
race-horse.  Over  him  we  read :  *'  Vincas  non  vincas 
TE  AMAMUS  PoLYDOXE " — "Whether  you  win,  or  not, 
we  love  you,  Polydoxus." 

From  the  Laconicum  a  door  leads  into  the  Suda- 
rium,  or  sweating-room.  On  the  floor  near  the  door 
are   the  cryptic  words,   "  Incredula  venila   bene- 

FICA." 

In  the  Sudarium  itself  are  two  mosaics.  Over 
the  first  are  the  words,  "  FiLOSO  filolocus."  The 
simplest  explanation  is  that  they  stand  for  Philosophi 
Locus,  "  The  Place  of  the  Philosopher,"  but  it  is  hard 
to  believe  that  in  such  elaborate  work  as  this,  two 
mistakes  should  have  been  made,  and  allowed  to  stand, 
in  two  words.  Still,  the  obvious  is  not  always  wrong, 
and  it  is  hard  to  suggest  any  other    interpretation. 

^  Ps.  cxiv.  Monies  exsultaverunt  lit  arictcs  apparetif.  This  acquaintance 
with  the  Bible  does  not,  of  course,  prove  that  Pompeianus  was  a  Christian, 
but  the  fact  that  the  words  were  sufficiently  well  known  to  be  thus  used  is 
interesting. 


COUNTRY  LIFE  115 

If  this  be  the  case,  the  incomprehensible  words  above 
may  be  mistakes  also. 

The  mosaic  represents  a  garden  or  Viridarium ; 
on  each  side  are  trees  ;  the  background  is  green.  To 
the  left  are  three  pavilions  brightly  coloured ;  to  the 
right,  under  a  palm-tree,  laden  with  ripe  fruit,  a  lady 
is  sitting  in  an  armchair  {cathedra),  holding  a  fan 
i^flabellum)  in  her  right  hand.  By  her  side  stands  an 
attendant ;  with  his  left  hand  he  holds  a  parasol 
{umhella)  over  the  lady's  head ;  in  his  right,  the  leash 
of  a  little  pet  dog  ;  behind  are  other  trees,  with  vines 
and  bunches  of  grapes.  Can  this  scene  of  idle  ease 
represent  the  School  of  Philosophy,  as  understood  in 
the  country-house  of  Pompeianus,  and  can  the  atten- 
dant be  the  philosopher  himself  ?  It  is  quite  possible. 
We  know  that  every  big  house  kept  its  private  philo- 
sopher, just  as  a  nobleman  used  to  keep  his  private 
chaplain  or  jester  ;  and  the  poor  philosopher  was  put 
to  very  base  uses  and  treated  with  as  scant  respect  or 
I  consideration  as  a  Court  chaplain  received  from  the 
wife  of  one  of  the  Georges. 

The  other  mosaic  in  the  Laconicum,  separated  from 
I  the  first  by  the  wall  of  the  garden,  represents  the 
I  park. 

j  At  the  top  are  two  circular  basins  with  fish  and 
j  aquatic  plants  in  flower ;  above  are  the  words, 
j  "  Septum  Venationis,"  the  "  Park  or   Enclosure  for 

I  Hunting."  It  is  ringed  in  with  a  high  deer-fence 
'  or  net  supported  by  strong  stakes.  Inside  are  three 
:!  gazelles  chased  by  a  couple  of  hounds.  The  small- 
'  ness  of   the  space  enclosed,  and  the  absence  of  any 

II  hunters,  give  the  impression  that  it  is  a  snare  for 
catching  deer  rather  than  a  place  for  hunting 
them. 

By  the  side  of  this  enclosure  for  deer  is  another 


Ii6  'TWIXT  SAND  AND  SEA 

for  cattle — "Pecuari  Locus," ^  the  "Place  of  the 
Herdsman."  This  part  of  the  mosaic  is  injured, 
almost  destroyed. 

Adjoining  is  the  Atrium.  Here  the  mosaic  shows 
a  hunting-lodge,  or  possibly  the  great  house  itself, 
and  hunting  scenes. 

The  house  at  the  top  of  the  mosaic  is  two  or  three 
storeys  high,  and  is  flanked  on  one  side  by  a  rich 
pavilion,  on  the  other  by  a  lofty  tower  and  bal- 
cony;  above  this  is  written,  ''Saltuarii  Janus," 
"  The  Ranger's  Gate." 

The  roof,  above  which  are  trees,  is  of  red  tiles 
{tegulce) ;  in  the  roof  of  the  central  building  are  four 
openings,  in  red  and  black.  What  they  are  is  not 
clear ;  if  we  could  be  sure  they  were  chimneys,  the 
question  whether  Roman  houses  had  chimneys  or  not 
would  be  settled,  and,  with  it,  the  meaning  of  the 
word  caminus. 

Below,  in  three  rows,  we  see  a  party  hunting 
gazelles.  It  consists  of  horsemen  with  spears  in  their 
hands  :  Cresconius,  Vernacil,  Cessonius,  Neantus. 
In  front  are  the  hounds  Fidelis  and  Castus,  while 
close  up  to  the  hounds,  in  his  proper  place,  rides 
PoMPEiANUS  himself,  the  only  one  who  is  unarmed. 
Others,  beaters,  are  on  foot — Liber,  Diaz,  and  an 
Iberian  boy  who,  like  Liber,  has  thrown  his  short 
mantle,  sagum,  loose  over  his  left  shoulder.  The  horses 
are  saddled,  bridled,  and  fully  caparisoned.  The  riders 
are  lightly  clad ;  they  wear  flat  bonnets  (galeri), 
entirely  covering  the  head,  short  mantles  thrown  back 
over  the  shoulder  like  hussars'  jackets,  and  trousers 
tied  in  at  the  knees.  At  the  close  of  the  hunt,  the 
hunters  are  invited  to  rest  under  the  pleasant  shade 
of  trees. 

^  Another  misprint  for  Pecuarii. 


COUNTRY  LIFE  117 

Also  in  the  Atrium  are  two  other  strange  mosaics. 
In  each  are  three  women,  naked,  save  that  long 
mantles  hang  from  their  shoulders  down  their  backs ; 
round  their  necks  are  strings  of  pearls,  and  they  wear 
bangles  on  their  arms,  wrists,  and  ankles.  The  woman 
in  the  middle  of  one  of  these  mosaics  holds  a  sun- 
shade in  her  right  hand.  They  sit  on  carved  couches, 
two  of  the  legs  of  which  represent  the  head  and  legs 
of  a  stag  or  some  fantastic  animal ;  the  others  are  a 
series  of  balls,  increasing  in  size  as  they  approach 
the  ground. 

Apart  from  these  last  two  mosaics,  and  making 
some  necessary  allowance  for  the  inevitable  con- 
ventionality of  treatment,  we  cannot  but  be  struck, 
not  only  by  the  very  pleasant,  but  also  by  the 
singularly  modern  picture  which  all  this  gives  us 
of  the  daily  life  of  the  Roman  gentry.  We  should 
only  have  to  take  the  lady  away  from  her  walled 
garden  and  her  philosopher,  and  put  her  on  horse- 
back by  the  side  of  her  husband. 

All  this,  pleasant  and  attractive  as  it  is,  gives, 
unhappily,  only  one  side  of  the  picture — the  life  of  the 
rich;  that  is,  of  the  few.  There  was  another  side 
very  different  and  very  cruel,  of  which  we  know 
little — the  deep  sighing  of  the  poor,  the  death  in  life 
of  the  slaves.  Of  these  latter  a  few,  the  most  favoured, 
were  attached  to  the  personal  service  of  their  masters. 
The  vast  majority  worked  and  died  in  the  fields 
under  the  lash  of  their  taskmasters.  We  must  imagine 
for  ourselves  the  hopeless  horror  of  their  lives ;  per- 
haps the  most  awful  comment  upon  it  is  that  no  record 
remains.  Their  misery  must  be  measured  by  the 
luxury  of  their  masters,  their  poverty  by  the  wealth 
of  Africa,  their  hopelessness  by  their  silence. 

Besides    these    private    estates,    there    were    the 


ii8  'TWIXT  SAND  AND  SEA 

Imperial  domains  or  saltus,  a  word  which  is  inter- 
preted by  iElius  Gallus  as  meaning  wood  and  pasture 
land  (saltus  est  ubi  sUvcb  et  pastiones  sunt).  Pliny  has 
told  us  how  the  Emperor  Nero  became  possessed  of 
some  of  these  ;  others  passed  into  the  Imperial  hands 
in  a  more  normal  way.  In  every  colony  a  part  of 
the  land  was  reserved  as  public  or  common  land 
(publicus  ager),  and  it  was,  perhaps,  natural  that, 
especially  in  Crown  colonies,  this  should  in  time  come 
to  be  considered  and  treated  as  the  property  of  the 
Emperor  himself. 

On  the  hills  which  surround  the  valleys  of  the 
Oueds  Arkou,  Memcha,  and  Ermouchia,  between 
Dougga  and  Kef,  lay  a  cluster  of  these  salftis — the 
Blandiensis,  Udensis,  Lamianus,  Domitianus,  and 
Sustritanus.  Each  of  these  was  managed  by  an 
Imperial  agent  or  procurator,  under  a  procurator- 
general  who  had  his  ofhce  at  Carthage.  Under  the 
procurator  were  the  conductores,  or  tenant  farmers,  to 
whom  the  farms  were  let  on  a  five  years'  lease,  with 
the  right  of  sub-letting.  The  relations  of  these  were 
governed  by  the  standing  law  of  Hadrian — the  Forma 
Perpetua  or  Model  Lease ;  copies  of  this,  accom- 
panied sometimes  by  a  sort  of  commentary,  giving 
the  details  of  the  local  usage,  have  been  found  in  various 
places,  engraved  on  slabs  or  pillars  or  altars. 

Here  is  one  of  the  commentaries,^  discovered  by 
Dr.  Carton,  near  a  spring  called  the  Ain  Ouarsel, 
not  far  from  Uci  Majus  : 

"  See  how  our  Caesar,  with  untiring  solicitude, 
watches  over  the  interests  of  mankind. 

"  I.  Concerning  all  the  lands  planted  with  olives  or 
other  fruit-trees  in  the  centuries  of  the  Saltus  Blan- 

^  Le  Pays  de  Dougga^  G,  Balut,  p.  62.     A  copy  of  the  Law  of  Hadrian 
is  inscribed  on  an  altar. 


COUNTRY  LIFE  119 

dianus  and  Udensis,  and  in  the  parts  of  the  Saltus 
Lamianus  and  Domitianus^  which  adjoin  the  Saltus 
Sustritanus  : 

''  Neither  the  fact  that  they  cultivate  these  centuries, 
nor  the  fact  that  they  hold  them  from  the  conductores , 
gives  to  the  occupants  the  right  of  possession,  to  enjoy 
their  revenues  or  to  leave  them  by  will  to  their  heirs,  a 
right  which  the  Law  of  Hadrian  gives  to  virgin  soil  and 
to  land  which  has  lain  waste  for  ten  consecutive  years. 

"2.  On  the  other  hand,  the  crops  on  the  lands  in 
the  Saltus  Blandianus  and  Udensis,  let  by  the  con- 
ductores  to  the  occupants,  shall  not  be  more  heavily 
rented  than  in  the  past.  The  rent  shall  be  one-third 
of  the  produce  of  the  land. 

'^So  also  the  parts  of  the  Saltus  Lamianus  and 
Domitianus  adjoining  the  Saltus  Sustritanus  shall 
pay  the  same  rent  as  in  time  past. 

'^3.  If  one  of  the  possessor es  shall  plant  or  graft 
olives,  the  produce  shall  be  free  from  all  impost  for 
the  first  ten  years. 

''  In  the  same  way,  fruit-trees  shall  not  be  taxed 
for  the  first  seven  years  after  they  have  been  planted 
or  grafted. 

''  In  any  case,  the  fruit  of  trees  which  are  not  thus 
exempt  shall  not  be  taxed  unless  the  said  fruits  are 
sold  by  the  possessor  es. 

^'The  rents  arising  from  the  dry  products  of  the 
soil  shall  be  paid  by  the  occupatorius  for  the  five  years 
following  the  cropping  of  the  land,  into  the  hands  of 
the  conductor  who  occupies  the  land. 

"  After  that  time,  they  pass  into  the  hands  of  the 
State." 

Besides  these  tenants  and  sub-tenants  there  were 
the  coloni,  the  peasantry,  for  the  most  part  natives. 


120  'TWIXT  SAND   AND   SEA 

who  occupied  such  land  as  no  one  else  wanted.  These 
men  were  drifting  fast  from  the  position  of  peasants 
into  that  of  serfs,  attached  to  and  almost  belonging 
to  the  soil.  Since  the  soil  belonged  to  the  Emperor, 
they  claimed  that  they  also,  in  a  sense,  were  his,  and 
had  therefore  a  claim  upon  him  and  a  right  of  appeal 
to  him.  It  is  curiously  like  the  Clameur  de  Haro, 
with  which  a  suppliant  Norman  cried  to  the  first 
pirate  duke  that  wrong  was  being  done :  "  Haro ! 
Haro  !    A  Vaide,  mon  Prince,  on  me  fait  tort."  ^ 

In  addition  to  some  rent,  which  of  course  varied 
with  the  circumstances,  they  were  obliged  to  give  six 
days  a  year  free  labour,  or  corvee,  to  the  farmers,  at 
the  busiest  times  of  the  year — two  for  ploughing,  two 
for  sowing,  and  two  for  harvesting.  It  is  easy  to 
understand  that  this  opened  the  door  to  much  unjust 
exaction  and  oppression.  A  curious  memorial  of  this 
has  been  discovered  on  the  Saltus  Bururitanus  (Henchir 
Dacla,  near  Souk-el-Kemis)  in  the  valley  of  the  Med- 
jerba,  inscribed  on  slabs  of  marble  which  are  now  in 
the  Bardo  at  Tunis.^ 

Resenting  the  unjust  exactions  of  the  farmers,  and 
despairing  of  obtaining  justice  of  the  procurators,  the 
peasants  determined  to  appeal  direct  to  the  Emperor 
himself.  Their  first  letter  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
Procurator-General  at  Carthage,  who,  furious  at  find- 
ing his  administration  thus  impugned,  sent  soldiers  to 
the  spot,  who  imprisoned  or  flogged  the  audacious 
complainants. 

Nothing  daunted,  the  coloni  sent  another  appeal 
which  reached  the  Emperor.  In  this  they  describe 
themselves  as  his  people,  vernulcB,  born  upon  his  land, 
alumni  saltuum  tuorum,  and  give  an  account  of  their 
wrongs.     An  autograph  reply  came  from  the  Emperor 

^  Rouen,  by  T.  A.  Cook,  p.  146.  *  C.I.L.  10570. 


COUNTRY  LIFE  I2i 

himself,  righting  their  wrongs,  and  insisting  that  the 
Law  of  Hadrian  should  be  respected,  and  no  more 
free  labour  exacted  from  them  than  was  due.  And 
this  Emperor  was  Commodus  the  Gladiator. 

If  in  1864  the  negroes  of  Jamaica  had  had  equally 
easy  access  to  the  throne,  a  very  ugly  page  would 
have  been  blotted  out  from  our  history. 

Overjoyed,  the  peasants  had  their  letter  and  the 
Emperor's  answer,  the  new  Magna  Carta  of  their 
liberties,  engraved  on  slabs  of  marble,  and  set  up 
on  the  estate. 

The  Emperor's  reply  deserves  to  be  given  at 
length  : — 

(imp  ca)es  m  aurelius  commodus  an 

(tONi)nUS   AUG    SARMAT   GERMANICUS 
MAXIMUS    LURIO    LUCULLO    ET    NOMIN    A 
LIORUM    PROCC    CONTEMPLATIONE    CIS 
CIPLIN/E    ET    INSTITUTI    MEI    NE    PLUS 
QUAM    TER   BINAS    OPERAS   CURABUNT 
NE   QUIT    PER    INJURIAM    CONTRA    PERPE 
TUAM    FOR  MAN    A   VOBIS    EXIGATUR 
ET    ALIA    MANU    SCRIPSI    RECOGNOVI. 

*'  The  Emperor  Caesar  Marcus  Aurelius  Commodus 
Antoninus,  Augustus,  Sarmaticus  Germanicus  Maxi- 
mus,  to  Lurius  Lucullus  and  the  other  procurators  : 
In  conformance  with  my  direction  and  ordinance,  you 
shall  not  exact  more  than  two  days'  free  labour,  thrice 
in  the  year,  or  inflict  any  injury  contrary  to  the  stand- 
ing orders.  This  and  the  rest  I  have  written  with 
my  own  hand  and  verified." 


It  will  be  easily  understood  that  the  management 
of  these  vast  estates  required  the  services  of  an  im- 
mense staff  of  officials.     Two  cemeteries  have  been 


122  'TWIXT  SAND  AND  SEA 

discovered  at  Carthage,  near  the  cisterns  of  Malga, 
set  apart,  one  for  the  free  men,  the  other  for  the 
slaves  attached  to  the  Administration.  Two  hundred 
and  eighty-nine  epitaphs  have  been  discovered  in  the 
one  cemetery,  two  hundred  and  ninety-five  in  the 
other. 

The  strange  construction  of  some  of  these  tombs, 
with  funnels  for  libations,  and  the  still  stranger  use 
to  which  these  funnels  were  put,  will  be  noticed  else- 
where. 

The  epitaphs  are  interesting  as  supplying  us  with 
the  titles  of  the  various  members  of  this  Imperial 
Familia. 

First  come  the  Procuratores,  or  Imperial  agents  ; 
then  there  come  the  Pedisequi  or  runners,  and  Medici, 
doctors  who  were  attached  to  the  persons  of  the  great 
officials.  Others  were  office  clerks,  Notarii,  or  Lihrariiy 
or  Tabularii  ;  others  surveyors,  Mensores  or  Agrimen- 
sores  and  Agrarii  :  many  are  soldiers,  others  Pceda- 
gogi,  one  a  philosopher,  another  a  nurse,  another  a 
dancer.  These  were  all  free,  and  probably  Roman 
citizens,  even  if  they  did  not  come  from  Rome.  The 
messengers  and  couriers.  Collegium  Cursorum  et  Nmni- 
darum,  were  natives  and,  probably,  slaves. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  some  of  these  Imperial 
officers  were  Christians.  Here  is  the  epitaph  of  one  of 
them — 

FORTUNATUS 

IN  PACE  PROCU 

RATOR  FUNDI 

BENBENNESIS. 


CHAPTER    VIII 
LIFE     IN     THE     TOWN 

The  traveller  in  Eastern  Algeria  and  Tunisia  cannot 
fail  to  be  impressed  by  the  enormous  number  of  ruined 
Roman  towns  which  he  passes,  and  the  density  of  the 
population  to  which  they  bear  witness.  Sometimes 
the  very  name  of  the  ruins  is  forgotten  ;  sometimes 
an  inscription  reveals  the  name,  but  everything  else 
is  lost ;  sometimes  a  ruined  arch  or  huge  monument 
such  as  the  amphitheatre  of  Thysdrus  (El  Djem) 
rises  in  the  midst  of  a  desert,  like  the  temples  of 
Egypt.  A  single  day's  drive  from  Medjez-el-Bab 
(Membressa)  to  Kef  (Sicca  Vineria)  carries  us  through 
no  less  than  twenty  towns,  and  even  this  takes  no 
account  of  the  private  and  Imperial  estates,  the 
pro'dia,  fundi,  and  saltus  which  lay  between  them. 
The  thickness  of  the  population  was,  of  course,  un- 
even ;  it  depended  upon  the  supply  of  water  and  the 
distance  from  the  sea.  This  latter  point  may  be 
stated  almost  in  terms  of  the  law  of  gravitation,  the 
number  and  importance  of  the  towns  var5^ng  inversely 
with  the  square  of  the  distance  from  Carthage  or 
some  other  seaport.  It  is  difficult,  almost  impossible, 
to  realise  now,  as  we  pass  through  leagues  of  treeless 
waste,  by  ranges  of  bare  rocky  hills,  that  those  hills 
were  once  clothed  with  forests,  that  those  plains  once 
supported  a  teeming  population,  and  were  the  granary 
of  Rome. 

And  not  less  remarkable  than  the  number  must 
have  been  the  splendour  of  these  cities.    A  single 


124  'TWIXT  SAND  AND   SEA 

illustration  of  this  must  suffice, — the  Triumphal 
Arches  which  are  so  marked  a  feature  of  the  Roman 
ruins.  Other  buildings,  theatres,  amphitheatres,  fora, 
temples,  aqueducts,  were  more  or  less  necessary,  and 
ministered  to  the  pleasures,  if  not  to  the  absolute 
requirements,  of  the  people  ;  these  arches  were  purely 
ornamental,  and  so  bear  a  clearer  witness  simply  to 
the  wealth  and  taste  and  liberality  of  those  who 
erected  them.  Often  only  a  foundation  is  left ;  some- 
times, as  with  the  great  four-fronted  arch  at  Con- 
stantine,  only  a  tradition  remains ;  sometimes,  as  at 
Medjez-el-Bab  (the  Ford  of  the  Gate),  only  the  name 
now  tells  us  of  the  gateway  outside  which  Belisarius 
defeated  the  rebel  Stotzas. 

Often  these  arches  are  only  "ornamental  gateways  in 
an  existing  city  or  temple  wall,  or  carry  an  aqueduct, 
recalling  the  Porta  Maggiore  or  the  so-called  Arch 
of  Drusus  at  Rome  ;  such  are  found  at  Lambessa, 
at  Tebessa,  and  in  the  Capitol  of  Sbeitla.  But  more 
frequently  they  stand  in  solitary  grandeur  entirely 
detached  from  any  other  building. 

Commonly  they  have  only  one  opening,  like  the 
Arch  of  Titus  at  Rome,  but  even  these  are  often  of 
great  dignity  and  beauty ;  such  are  the  Arches  of 
Diocletian  at  Sufetula  (Sbeitla),  of  Commodus  at 
Lambaesis  (Lambessa),  of  M.  Aurelius  at  Verecunda, 
one  of  the  Arches  at  Tibilis  (Announa),  and  especially 
the  very  splendid  Arch  of  Septimius  Severus  at  Ammoe- 
dara  (Haidra). 

And  here  it  may  be  remembered  that  Severus 
was  himself  an  African,  born  at  Leptis,  and  had  there- 
fore a  double  claim  on  the  loyalty  of  Africans,  Roman 
and  Berber. 

Very  rarely  these  arches  had  two  openings,  but  it 
was  found  difficult  to  treat  this  form  successfully,  and 


Arch  of  Caracalla,  Tebessa 


LIFE   IN   THE  TOWN  125 

it  was  hardly  ever  adopted  ;  a  solitary  instance  is  to 
be  found  at  Thibilis  (Announa) — the  only  one,  at  any 
rate,  that  the  present  writer  has  found. 

A  more  elaborate  form  has  three  openings ;  to 
this  class  belong  the  Arch  of  Septimius  Severus  at 
Lambsesis,  the  entrance  Arch  of  the  Capital  of  Sufe- 
tula  (Sbeitla),  dedicated  to  Antoninus  Pius,  and  the 
great  Arch  of  Trajan  which  bestrides  the  Decumanus 
Maximus  at  Thamugadi  (Timgad). 

The  most  perfect,  the  most  beautiful,  the  most 
intricate,  the  most  costly,  and  therefore  the  rarest 
form,  is  the  four-sided  arch,  like  the  so-called  Temple 
or  Arch  of  Janus  in  the  Forum  Boarium  of  Rome. 
Such  an  arch  still  stands  in  Tripoli,  and  once  stood  in 
Cirta  (Constantine).  The  only  remaining  instance  in 
Africa  is  the  Arch  of  Septimius  Severus  at  Theveste 
(Tebessa). 

The  arch  is  a  perfect  square  of  thirty-six  feet. 
On  the  keystones  of  the  arches  which  crown  the 
openings  on  the  four  sides  are  carved  medallions  : 
that  on  the  west,  a  divinity,  with  an  Egyptian  head- 
dress ;  that  on  the  east,  Minerva.  On  the  frieze  are 
four  inscriptions — one  to  Caracalla ;  one  to  Septimius 
Severus,  who  was  dead  when  the  arch  was  erected; 
and  the  third  to  Julia  Domna,  Matri  Castrorum  et 
Sen.  et  Patrice,  "  Mother  of  the  Camp,  of  the  Senate, 
and  of  the  Fatherland."  The  fourth  face  was  left 
blank.  This  is  common,  almost  universal,  in  inscrip- 
tions to  Septimius  Severus — either  a  blank  or,  as  in 
the  case  of  his  arch  in  the  Forum  of  Rome,  an  erasure. 
In  every  case  the  cause  was  the  same.  It  reminds  us 
that  in  the  year  a.d.  212,  the  year  after  the  death  of 
Severus,  Caracalla  murdered  his  brother  Geta,  pre- 
ferring, as  he  said,  to  worship  him  as  a  god  than  to 
have  him  as  a  living  rival — "Sit  divus  dum  non  sit 


126  'TWIXT   SAND   AND   SEA 

vivus."  ^  The  blank  where  the  inscription  to  Geta 
should  have  been,  fixes  the  date  of  the  arch.  It  was 
erected,  or  at  least  dedicated,  between  the  years 
A.D.  212  and  217.  When  Solomon  came  in  A.D.  535, 
he  made  the  arch  the  principal  gateway  of  his  great 
fortress,  and  erected  an  inscription  for  himself,  "  the 
most  glorious  and  most  excellent  Commander-in-Chief 
Solomon,  Prefect  of  Libya  and  Patrician,"  in  the 
vacant  place. 

The  most  remarkable  and  beautiful  feature  of  the 
arch  is  that  it  was  vaulted,  and  that  on  each  of  the 
four  faces  of  the  arch  stood,  resting  against  the  central 
dome,  a  graceful  little  shrine,  like  the  iEdicula  at  the 
entrance  of  the  Atrium  Vestae  at  Rome,  doubtless  to 
shelter  a  statue.  The  whole  is  so  sumptuous  and  rich, 
that  it  is  curious  that  it  has  never  been  copied. 

How  are  we  to  account  for  this  marvellous  pro- 
fusion of  splendid  buildings  and  monuments  ?  How 
came  it  that  not  only  great  cities,  but  even  small  and 
unimportant  towns,  were  so  richly  adorned  ?  The 
answer  to  these  questions  is  simple  and  interesting. 
They  were  not  built  out  of  the  rates,  or  by  public 
subscription ;  they  were,  almost  without  exception, 
the  gifts  of  private  individuals — expressions,  that  is,  of 
loyalty  to  the  Emperor,  and  of  love  and  pride  in  the 
city  itself.  Sometimes  it  was  a  governor  or  some 
great  landowner,  more  frequently  it  was  some  wealthy 
officer  in  the  army,  who,  either  while  he  was  alive,  or 
by  will,  devoted  part  of  his  substance  to  the  expression 
of  his  patriotism  and  to  the  beautifying  of  his  home. 

To  these  men   Civis    Romanus  sum  was  no   un- 

'  The  Roman  Emperors  did  not  take  their  apotheoses  very  seriously. 
Vce,piito  Deus  fio — "  Alas  1  I  am  going  to  be  made  a  god" — were  the  words 
of  Vespasian  when  he  lay  a-dying.  It  is  to  the  homely  wit  of  the  same 
Emperor  that  we  owe  the  maxim  which  is  the  Great  Charter  of  modern 
society,  "  Money  does  not  smell." 


LIFE  IN  THE   TOWN  127 

meaning  phrase  or  boast — it  was  a  patent  of  nobility ; 
it  bound  these  distant  members  to  the  great  city 
wliich  was  the  heart  of  the  Empire  and  of  the  world — 
sometimes  we  hear  it  still,  and  from  strange  lips,  lo 
sono  Romano  di  Ro?na.  And  each  colony  or  town, 
with  its  capital  and  forum,  was  a  little  Rome  to  its 
inhabitants.  From  the  splendour  of  the  very  ruins 
we  learn  to  realise  what  Roman  patriotism  was,  and 
to  understand  the  contempt  and  hatred  with  which 
the  Roman  officers  and  citizens  regarded  the  dis- 
loyalty, as  they  deemed  it,  of  those  who  refused  to 
take  the  oath  of  allegiance  by  burning  incense  to 
Caesar. 

But  there  was  more  than  this.  Municipal  offices, 
especially  that  of  perpetual  Flamen,  or  Priest  at  the 
Imperial  sacrifices,  were,  in  their  degree,  as  much 
objects  of  ambition  as  it  was  to  be  consul  or  tribune 
then,  or  M.P.  or  J. P.  now.  In  England  "  The  County  " 
has  yet  to  learn  not  to  despise  "  The  Town."  To 
serve  on  a  town  council  has  until  recently  been 
considered  almost  a  degradation  :  a  wealthy  merchant, 
when  asked  why  he  declined  to  serve,  replied  that 
"  he  wanted  to  keep  himself  respectable."  Things 
are,  happily,  improving  in  this  respect,  but  we  are 
still  very  far  from  sharing  the  intense  pride  which  the 
Roman  citizen  felt  in  his  town  or  municipality.  Each 
office  had  its  fixed  price,  the  summa  honoraria  ;  the 
city  did  not  pay  its  magistrates — they  paid  the  city 
for  the  honour  of  serving.  The  result  was  natural, 
and  the  list  became  a  long  one.  A  single  fragment 
of  an  inscription  found  in  the  Curia  at  Thamugadi 
(Timgad)  gives  the  names  of  no  less  than  seventy 
citizens  whom  the  Respublica  Thamuga den  slum  had 
admitted  to  the  splendidissimus  or  do  of  Decuriones, 
or  town  councillors.     Rich  men  were  eagerly  sought 


128  TWIXT  SAND   AND   SEA 

after  for  this  purpose  ;  sometimes  a  man  could  boast 
that  he  was  Flamen  Perpetuus  at  both  Thamugadi 
and  Lambaesis.^  A  freedman,  who  could  not,  on  that 
account,  be  made  a  Decurion,  was  elected  an  honorary 
member  of  that  august  body,  and  was  allowed  to 
wear  the  robes  and  regalia  and  to  occupy  the  reserved 
seats  in  the  theatres.  There  was  a  regular  tariff. 
The  price  of  the  Duumvirate — the  highest  dignity — 
at  Thamugadi  was  £32,  of  an  ^Edileship  £24.  In 
certain  cases  this  price  was  increased  ampliatd 
taxatione.  It  was  only  after  this  had  been  paid  that 
bribery  began.  This  usually  took  the  form  of  a 
promise  to  erect  some  building  "  to  adorn  the  Father- 
land "  (exornare  Patriam). 

These  benefactions  were  not  always  confined  to 
buildings  :  philanthropy  had  its  place  also.  A  citizen 
of  Sicca  Veneria  (Kef)  left  a  sum  of  one  million  three 
hundred  thousand  sesterces  (£150,000),  for  the  support 
and  education  of  five  hundred  poor  children,  three 
hundred  boys  and  two  hundred  girls,  between  the 
ages  of  three  and  fifteen  years. 

But  civic  duties,  however  honourable  and  onerous, 
could  not  fill  the  time  of  the  busy  and  enthusiastic 
citizens.     Something  lighter  was  needed  also. 

Happiness  comes  from  God,  but  men  have  to 
make  their  pleasures  for  themselves,  and  apparently 
it  is  these  unnecessary  things  which,  in  the  opinion 
of  most,  make  life  worth  living. 

We  have  seen  the  Roman  citizen  in  his  home  in 
the  country,  hunting,  boating,  fishing,  swimming — 
living,  in  fact,  very  much  the  life  of  an  English  country 
gentleman  ;  it  remains  for  us  now,  in  deajing  with 
town  life,  to  speak  of  the  public  games,  which  occupied 

1  C.I.L.  2407. 


LIFE   IN   THE   TOWN  129 

in  the  life  of  the  people  a  place  even  more  important 
than  that  which  they  fill  nowadays.  Thus,  in  an- 
nouncing the  victory  over  Firmus,  the  Emperor 
Aurehan  writes:  "Attend  the  public  games,  spend 
your  time  at  the  Circus,  and  leave  politics  to  us.  We 
will  undertake  all  the  trouble  for  you ;  you  shall  have 
all  the  pleasure." 

Some  of  these  amusements  were  inherited  from 
the  Greeks ;  these  were  the  Circus  and  the  Theatre  ; 
the  one  which  the  Romans  invented  for  themselves 
was  the  Amphitheatre. 

The  Circus 

The  Circus  was  merely  the  Latin  form  of  the  Greek 
hippodrome,  and,  as  its  Greek  name  implies,  was 
originally  intended  chiefly,  if  not  solely,  for  cha- 
riot racing.  In  the  Homeric  poems,  Agamemnon, 
Achilles,  and  Ulysses  were  charioteers,  not  horsemen. 
It  was  as  a  charioteer  that  Hector  won  the  name  by 
which  Homer  loves  to  describe  him,  "  The  Chivalrous 
Hector,"  and  it  was  to  its  first  great  builder,  the 
Etruscan  King  Tarquinius  Superbus,  that  Rome  be- 
Heved  that  she  owed  her  first  circus,  the  Circus 
Maximus.  The  great  difference  between  the  hippo- 
drome and  the  circus  was  that,  among  the  Greeks, 
the  drivers  in  the  races  were  the  great  men  who  owned 
the  horses,  whereas  amongst  the  Romans,  at  any 
rate  in  the  days  of  the  Empire,  of  which  we  are  now 
speaking,  the  charioteers  were  paid  professionals. 

From  the  first  days  of  Roman  history,  when  the 
legendary  Romulus  was  fabled  to  have  held  equally 
legendary  races  in  the  Field  of  Mars,  to  the  days 
when  riderless  horses  were  raced,  in  the  same  place, 
down   the    Corso,   permission   to    race   Jews   having 


130  'TWIXT   SAND   AND   SEA 

been  withdrawn,  Panem  et  Cir censes ,  "  Free  food  and 
races,"  have  been  the  chief  demands  of  the  Romans. 
And  if  it  was  so  in  Italy,  much  more  was  it  the  case  in 
Africa,  where  the  love  of  horses  was  indigenous  ;  ^  it 
was  from  the  African  grooms  that  St.  Jerome  heard 
the  saying  which  was  passed  into  an  English  proverb : 
Equi  denies  inspicere  donati  —  "Don't  look  a  gift 
horse  in  the  mouth."  This  was  an  interest  in  which 
conquerors  a^nd  conquered,  Roman  and  Berber,  were 
united.  Wherever  the  Romans  settled  in  any  numbers 
they  constructed  first  a  theatre,  then,  if  possible,  an 
amphitheatre  and  a  circus.  They  did  so  in  the  east  at 
Carthage,  Dougga,  El  Djem,  Leptis  Magna,  and  Sousse ; 
at  Constantine,  and  in  the  far  west  at  Cherchel.  In  a 
mosaic  from  Gafsa,  now  in  the  Bardo  at  Tunis,  we 
see  the  spina  and  metcB,  round  which  the  chariots  are 
racing ;  by  their  sides  are  horsemen,  the  jubilatores, 
cheering  on  the  teams,  while  above,  in  long  rows,  are 
the  eager  faces  of  the  spectators — men  and  women — 
for  to  the  circus  both  were  admitted  on  equal  terms,  a 
fact  which  doubtless  added  much  to  the  popularity  of 
those  games.  Ovid  has  told  us  how  he  took  a  girl  to 
the  races,  how  he  shielded  her  face  from  the  sun  withj 
his  card  of  the  races,  how  he  admired  her  ankle  and 
wished  he  could  see  more. 

Another  even  more  interesting  mosaic  from  Dougga, 
also  in  the  Bardo,  represents  a  victorious  charioteer 
Eros.  In  his  left  hand  he  grasps  the  reins,  in  his 
right  the  whip  and  olive  crown  ;  over  the  heads  of 
two  of  the  horses  are  inscribed,  as  usual,  their  names, 
Amandus  and  Prunitus  ;  to  the  right  are  the  Carceres, 
which  took  the  place  of  the  starting-post ;  over  the 
charioteer's  head  runs  the  pretty,  punning  compliment : 

'  According  to  Herodotus,  "The  Greeks  learnt  from  the  Libyans  to  yoke 
four  horses  to  a  chariot '"  (iv.  189). 


LIFE    IN   THE   TOWN  131 

Eros  omnia  per  te  —  "O  Love  (Eros),  all  things  axe 
won  by  thee." 

Another  beautiful  mosaic,  preserved  in  the  Kasbah 
at  Sousse,  represents  the  racing  stables  of  a  certain 
Sorothus.  The  hopes  which  Pompeianus  centred 
in  his  horse  Polydoxus  have  been  already  recorded. 

The  importance  and  wealth  of  a  successful  chario- 
teer are  shown  in  many  ways.  Martial  compares  the 
beggarly  handful  of  coppers  which  was  all  he  could 
earn  in  a  day,  with  the  fifteen  bags  of  gold  won  by 
the  charioteer  Scorpus  in  a  single  hour.^  The  largest 
and  costhest  house  yet  excavated  at  Carthage  belonged 
to  another,  Scorpianus,  while  a  very  curious  in- 
scription, discovered  at  Rome  and  described  by  the 
Contessa  Lovatelli,  tells  us  how  Crescens,  an  African 
by  birth,  belonging  to  the  faction  of  the  Blues,  won 
his  first  race  in  the  consulate  of  Vipstanius  Messala, 
on  the  anniversary  festival  of  the  divine  Nerva 
(a.d.  115),  With,  the  horses  Circius,  Acceptor,  Delicatus, 
and  Cotynus,  and  his  last,  ten  years  later,  in  the 
consulate  of  Glabrion,  at  the  festival  of  the  divine 
Claudius  (a.d.  124);  and  that  between  these  two  he 
won  forty-seven  first  prizes,  one  hundred  and  thirty 
second,  and  one  hundred  and  eleven  third.  The 
prize-money    amounted    to    1,558,346    sesterces,    or 

£14,340- 

The  racing  world  was  divided  into  four  parties  or 
Factiones — the  Green  (Prasini),  the  Red  (Russati),  the 
Blue  {Veneti),  and  the  White  {Alhati).  Four  chariots, 
one  of  each  colour,  raced  in  each  heat  (missus).  We 
find  them  all  in  a  mosaic  in  the  Thermae  of  Diocletian 
at  Rome.  The  men  wear  round  caps,  close-fitting 
jerkins  of  their  proper  colour,  tight  breeches,  and  high 
boots.     Round  their  bodies  are  laced  the  thongs  which 

'  X.  74- 


132  'TWIXT   SAND   AND   SEA 

represented  the  ends  of  the  reins,  and  added  greatly  to 
the  interest  of  the  races  by  insuring  the  death  of  any 
one  who  was  thrown. 

To  one  or  other  of  these  factions  every  Roman 
belonged.  Nero  belonged  to  the  Green,  and  himself 
raced  in  their  colours,  and  lodged  the  charioteers 
and  grooms  in  the  Domus  Gelotiana  on  the  Palatine, 
that  he  might  be  able  the  more  easily  to  enjoy  their 
society.  To  which  of  them  any  one  belonged  was,  for 
the  most  part,  as  much  an  accident  of  birth,  or  station, 
or  surroundings  as  the  politics  of  an  ordinary  English- 
man, but  when  once  chosen  there  was  no  changing  ; 
in  this,  as  in  other  matters,  men  atoned  for  the 
accidental  character  of  their  original  choice  by  the 
obstinacy  with  which  they  clung  to  it.  Such  a  change 
on  the  part  of  a  charioteer  was  so  rare  that,  when  it 
occurred,  it  was  thought  worthy  of  a  public  monument. 
In  the  court  of  the  Church  of  St.  Irene  at  Constanti- 
nople stands  a  four-sided  monument  adorned  with 
reliefs  and  inscriptions.  It  is  dedicated  to  a  certain 
Porphyrins,  a  famous  charioteer  of  the  beginning  of 
the  sixth  century.  In  one  of  the  inscriptions  his  seces- 
sion from  the  Blue  faction  to  the  Green  is  recorded  ; 
while  in  one  of  the  reliefs  we  are  shown  Porphyrins 
himself,  in  his  chariot,  with,  as  usual,  the  names  of 
the  horses  over  the  head  of  each. 

A  few  years  later  the  change,  if  made  at  all,  would 
hardly  have  been  made  in  this  direction.  Justinian, 
who  loved  horse-racing  with  an  even  more  passionate 
devotion  than  even  law  or  theology,  belonged  to  the 
Blues  (there  were  then  only  two  factions),  while  the 
Empress  Theodora  was  suspected  of  a  sneaking  attach- 
ment to  the  Greens  and  heresy.  At  any  rate  the 
Blues  constituted  themselves  champions  of  Church 
and  King,  and  assailed  the  Greens  with  a  relentless 


LIFE   IN   THE  TOWN  133 

ferocity  which  became  a  matter  of  pohtical  importance. 
Secure  in  the  protection  of  the  Emperor,  masters  of 
the  city,  ahnost  of  the  world,  they  instituted  a  veri- 
table  reign   of   terror.^     Clad  in  cloaks  of   rat-skins, 
with  long  tangled  hair  and  moustaches,  recalling  by 
■■  their  appearance  the  ferocious  Attila  whose  savagery 
they    strove    to    emulate,    they    wandered   in    armed 
bands  through  the  streets  plundering,  ravishing,   or 
slaughtering  whomsoever  they  would  ;    their  proudest 
boast  was  that  they  could  kill  a  man  with  a  single 
stroke  of  the  dagger.     If  a  judge  were  so  ill-advised 
as  to  attempt  to  do  justice  and  condemn  an  offender, 
the  guilty  wretch  was  sure  of  a  free  pardon  from  the 
Emperor,  while  the  judge  was  reprimanded,  and,  if 
he  repeated  his  offence,  his  contumacy  was  punished 
by  removal  from  his  post  and  banishment  to  some 
distant  province  of  the  Empire.     Meanwhile  the  un- 
happy Greens,  massacred  by  their  rivals  and  deserted 
by  the  judges,  fled  from  the  city  and  became  banditti, 
preying   without   mercy   on   those   from   whom   they 
had  received  none.^ 
I        The  interest  taken  in  the  races  at  Carthage  is  illus- 
(  trated  in  a  curious  way.    Elsewhere  I  shall  speak  of  the 
funnel  tombs  in  the  cemetery  of  the  Roman  officials, 
near  the  cisterns  of  La  Malga,  and  of  the  love  and 
I  other  charms  which  were  dropped  into  them.     With 
!  these    have    been    found    a   number    of    thin    sheets 
of    lead,    called    tahulce    execrationis,   on    which   were 
scratched  in  Greek  or  Latin,  sometimes  in  both,  im- 
precations  upon   the   horses   and   drivers   of   various 
il  factions.     For  comprehensiveness  and  minuteness  of 
'  detail  they  are  worthy  of  a  place  by  the  side  of  the 

^  It  is  said  that,  on  one  occasion,  thirty  thousand  were  killed  in  the 
Circus. 

^  Proc.  vii. 


\ 


134  'TWIXT   SAND   AND    SEA 

famous  Rochester  Curse,  printed  by  Sterne  in 
Tristram  Shandy,  and  parodied  by  Barham  in  The 
Ingoldsby  Legends.  This  was  the  curse  which  aroused 
the  pity  of  tender-hearted  Uncle  Toby : — 

"  '  I  declare/  quoth  my  Uncle  Toby,  '  my  heart 
would  not  let  me  curse  the  devil  himself  with  so  much 
bitterness.'  '  He  is  the  father  of  curses/  replied 
Dr.  Slop.  *  So  am  not  1/  replied  my  uncle.  *  But 
he  is  cursed  and  damned  already,  to  all  eternity,' 
replied  Dr.  Slop.  '  I  am  sorry  for  it/  quoth  my 
Uncle  Toby." 

Sometimes  these  imprecations  were  attached  to 
a  cippus,  or  gravestone,  by  a  strip  of  leather  ;  some- 
times they  were  dropped  into  the  tomb  itself.  One 
has  been  found  between  two  skulls,  apparently  of  men 
who  had  been  beheaded,  as  no  skeletons  were  found 
with  them,  and  they  had  no  relation  to  the  ashes  on 
which  they  lay.  The  sheets  are  naturally  small 
and  thin  ;  on  one,  which  measures  only  three  inches 
by  two  and  a  half,  the  writing  is  so  minute  that  it  can 
be  read  only  through  a  magnifying-glass. 

The  writing  runs  on  a  square  round  the  four  sides 
of  the  sheet,  and  so  round  and  round  until  it  reaches 
the  centre. 

On  one,  not  the  most  venomous,  we  find  a  drawing 
of  the  spina  of  the  circus;  at  the  top  is  a  rough 
drawing  of  a  cock's  head ;  below  are  the  carceres. 
On  each  side  is  a  list  of  horses — Sidereus,  Igneus, 
Rapidus,  Impulsator,  and  so  on — nineteen  on  one  side 
and  eight  on  the  other,  which  is  injured.  The  impre- 
cation below  begins  as  follows — I  give  it  in  the  original 
to  show  the  ignorance  of  the  writer  : — 

"  Ixcito  demon  qui  ic  conversans  trado  tibi  os  equos 
ut  deteneas  illos  et  inplicentur  ec  se  movere  possint."  ^ 

^  C.I.L.  12504. 


LIFE   IN   THE   TOWN  135 

The  invocations  are  varied  and  interesting  ;  one 
begins  as  follows  : — 

"  I  invoke  Thee,  whosoever  thou  art,  Spirit  of  the 
dead,  dead  before  thy  time,  by  the  seven  enthroned 
with  the  King  of  the  under  world,  &c."  ^ 

Another : — 

"  I  adjure  Thee,  O  Demon,  by  the  Holy  Names, 
Salbal,  Bathbal  Authierotabal,  Basuthateo,  Aleo, 
Samabethor,  bind  fast  the  horses  of  the  Greens,  whose 
names  I  give  Thee,"  &c.^ 

Sometimes  they  descend  to  personalities  ;  on  one 
the  charioteer  Dionysius  is  called,  wherever  the  name 
occurs,  "  the  gorging  glutton."  ^ 

The  following  may  be  given  at  length,  not  because 
it  is  the  most  detailed  or  the  most  savage,  but  for  its 
curious  ending.^ 

The  text,  which  is  surrounded  with  cabalistic 
figures,  runs  as  follows  : — 

"  I  invoke  Thee,  by  the  Great  Names,  to  bind  fast 
every  limb  and  every  nerve  of  Biktorikos  (Victorious), 
whom  Earth,  the  Mother  of  every  living  soul,  brought 
forth,  the  Charioteer  of  the  Blues,  and  his  horses  which 
he  is  about  to  drive,  belonging  to  Secondinas,  loubenis 
(Juvenis)  and  Atbokatos  (Advocatus),  and  Boubalos 
and  Lauriatos,  and  those  of  Biktorikos,  Pompeianos 
and  Baianos  and  Biktor  (Victor)  and  Eximios,  and 
those  of  the  Messalians,  Dominator,  and  as  many  as 
shall  be  yoked  with  them.  Bind  fast  their  legs  that 
they  may  not  be  able  to  start  or  to  bound  or  to  run. 
Blind  their  eyes  that  they  may  not  see.  Rack  their 
hearts  and  their  souls  that  they  may  not  breathe. 
As  this  cock  is  bound  by  its  feet  and  hands  and  head, 
so  bind  fast  the  legs  and  hands  and  head  and  heart 

^  C.I.L.  125 10.      ,  -  Ibid.,  12508. 

'  Ibid.,  12508.  *  Ibid.^  125 1 1. 


136  'TWIXT   SAND   AND   SEA 

of  Biktorikos,  Charioteer  of  the  Blues,  to-morrow, 
and  his  horses  which  he  is  about  to  drive,  belonging 
to  Secondinas,  loubenis  and  Atbokatos  and  Boubalos 
and  Lauriatos,  and  those  of  Biktorikos,  Pompeianos 
and  Baianos  and  Biktor  and  Eximios,  and  those  of 
the  Messalians,  Dominator,  and  as  many  as  may  be 
yoked  with  them. 

^'  Again  I  adjure  Thee  by  the  God  of  Heaven  above 
Who  sitteth  upon  the  Cherubim,  Who  divided  the 
Earth  and  severed  the  Sea,  lao,  Abrico,  Arbathiao, 
Sabao,  Adonai,^  to  bind  fast  Biktorikos,  Charioteer 
of  the  Blues,  and  the  horses  which  he  is  about  to 
drive  ....  to-morrow  in  the  Circus.  Now,  Now, 
Quickly,  Quickly." 

In  size  these  enormous  structures  differed  greatly  ; 
the  Circus  Maximus  at  Rome,  after  its  final  enlarge- 
ment by  Trajan,  would  hold  nearly  half  a  million 
spectators ;  that  at  Carthage  would  accommodate 
about  half  that  number  ;  that  of  Maxentius,  on  the 
Appian  Way,^  about  seventeen  or  eighteen  thousand. 
In  plan,  however,  they  were  all  alike.  That  at 
Carthage,  which  concerns  us  most,  may  be  taken  as 
a  type  of  them  all. 

It  was  a  vast  enclosure,  seven  hundred  and  forty 
yards  long,  and  three  hundred  and  thirty  broad — 
about  the  same  length,  that  is,  as  the  Circus  Maximus, 
but  only  half  the  breadth.  One  end  was  semicircular, 
the  other  straight.  Round  three  sides  ran  the  tiers 
of  seats,  rising  from  the  ground,  like  those  of  an 
amphitheatre,  to  a  height  of  three  storeys.  In  the 
middle  of  the  semicircle  was  a  gate,  known  as 
Libitina,  an  euphemism  for  Death,  for  it  was  a  sort 


^  These  names  are  in  Greek  ;  the  rest  is  in  Latin. 
*  The  most  perfect  existing  example. 


LIFE   IN   THE   TOWN  137 

of  **  emergency  exit  "  by  which  those  who  were  killed 
or  injured  in  turning  the  goal  ^  could  be  carried  out ; 
for  no  amusement  pleased  the  Romans  which  did 
not  at  least  contemplate  such  accidents  as  these. 

The  other  end  was  the  starting-point.  It  was 
straight,  but,  instead  of  being  set  at  right  angles  to 
the  sides,  inclined  to  the  right,  so  that  all  the  chariots, 
whatever  their  position,  might  reach  the  spina,  round 
which  the  course  ran,  at  the  same  moment.  In  the 
middle  of  this  side  was  the  grand  entrance,  flanked 
on  each  side  by  six  stalls,  or  car  ceres,  from  which 
the  chariots  started.  At  either  end  was  a  tall  tower 
called  the  Oppidum.  Down  the  middle  of  the  course, 
not  parallel  with  the  sides,  but  at  right  angles  with 
the  carceres,  ran  the  spina,  a  barrier  three  hundred  and 
thirty  yards  long,  splendidly  decorated  with  pillars, 
statues,  altars,  and,  at  Rome,  obelisks.  At  the  two 
ends  of  the  spina  stood  the  goals  or  metcB,  the  turning- 
points  for  the  chariots  ;  on  these  were  placed  marble 
dolphins  and  eggs,  seven  of  each,  corresponding  in 
number  with  the  laps  of  the  race,  one  being  removed 
as  each  lap  was  completed  ;  the  dolphins  probably 
represented  the  sea-horses  of  Neptune,^  who  was 
commonly  represented  in  a  chariot,  while  the  eggs 
recalled  the  legend  of  Leda  and  the  Swan — Leda, 
the  mother  of  the  great  twin-brethren,  *'  Castor, 
swift  with  the  car,"  and  Pollux,  who  watered  their 
horses  at  the  Lake  of  Juturna  in  the  Forum,  after 
the  battle  of  Lake  Regillus,  and  who  now  stand  by 
the  side  of  their  fiery  steeds  in  the  Piazza  del  Quiri- 
nale  on  the  Monte  Cavallo  at  Rome. 

^  In  the  imprecation  on  Dionysius  (C.I.L.  12508),  there  is  a  special 
prayer  that  he  may  be  thrown  out  "at  the  turnings." 

-  Or,  more  exactly,  Consus,  the  Ncptunus  equestris  (Livy,  i.  9),  whose 
altar  stood  on  the  spina. 


138  'TWIXT   SAND   AND   SEA 

Of  all  this  splendour  nothing  remains  now  save 
a  few  heaps  of  earth  and  some  broken  stones.  At 
Dougga  the  line  of  the  spina  can  still  be  traced  ;  else- 
where there  is  little  but  a  name,  and  perhaps  an 
inscription,  to  tell  of  what  once  has  been. 

The  Amphitheatre 

More  dear  to  the  Greeks  even  than  the  hippodrome 
was  the  stadium  for  foot-races  and  other  contests, 
in  which  the  choicest  of  the  Hellenic  youth  competed. 
From  the  games  held  at  Olympia  the  years  were  dated, 
as  from  the  consuls  at  Rome  ;  to  win  the  parsley 
crown  of  victory  was  a  deed  worthy  to  be  immor- 
talised in  an  ode  by  Pindar  or  to  be  used  as  a  metaphor 
by  St.  Paul.  But  for  such  harmless  sport,  save  for 
their  own  private  exercise  and  amusement,  the  Romans 
had  little  liking.  The  so-called  stadium  on  the  Pala- 
tine was  probably  a  garden  ;  at  any  rate,  it  was  private, 
and  there  is  no  trace  of  a  stadium,  public  or  private, 
in  North  Africa.  In  place  of  such  we  find  the  purely 
Roman  amphitheatre,  more  popular  even  than  the 
circus,  if  we  may  judge  from  the  number,  size,  and 
magnificence  of  the  buildings.  In  Africa  all  that 
was  necessary  for  the  shows  was  easy  to  obtain  ; 
elephants,  lions,  and  other  wild  beasts  abounded  in 
the  forests  and  on  the  mountains,  gladiators  were  not 
dear,  and  slaves  and  Christians  were  always  at  hand. 
Happily  the  nature  of  these  sports  and  of  the  places 
dedicated  to  them  is  so  familiar  that  no  detailed 
description  of  either  is  necessary  ;  especially  as,  in 
North  Africa,  there  have  as  yet  been  found  no  im- 
portant mosaics  representing  them,  like  that  of  the 
gladiators  in  the  Lateran  Museum  ;  or  statues  such 
as  that  of  the  Boxer  in  the  Thermae  of  Diocletian. 


Theatre,  Dougga 


rgsM 


1 1 il  B  p  r 


Amphitheatre,   El  Djem 


LIFE   IN   THE  TOWN  139 

In  the  absence  of  mosaics,  the  following  may  be 
quoted  as  interesting.  The  comic  element  at  the 
games  was  supplied  by  a  buffoon,  who,  dressed  as 
Mercury,  went  round  with  a  red-hot  iron  to  make 
sure  that  the  gladiator,  or  martyr,  as  the  case  might 
be,  was  really  dead.  Tertulhan,  in  his  Apology ^^ 
refers  to  this  custom,  "  Risimus  et  inter  ludicras  meri- 
dionarum  crudelitates  Mercurium  mortuos  cauterio  ex- 
aminantem."  A  representation  of  this  has  been  found 
on  one  of  the  tahulcB  execrationis  discovered  in  the 
Amphitheatre  at  Carthage.  It  portrays  a  monstrous 
beast,  and  a  man  disguised  as  Mercury  ;  his  knee  is 
on  a  gladiator  lying  prostrate  on  the  ground,  whom 
he  is  piercing  with  a  weapon  like  a  chisel  or  dagger — 
no  doubt  the  hot  iron  used  to  certify  the  death. 

Amongst  the  largest  and  by  far  the  most  perfect 
amphitheatre  in  North  Africa  is  that  at  El  Djem,  the 
ancient  Thysdrus,  approaching  the  Colosseum  itself 
in  both  size  and  completeness.  The  first  sight  of 
it  is  strangely  impressive.  The  road  from  Sousse 
(Hadrumetum)  to  Sfax  (Taparura)  climbs  slowly  up 
a  long  hill ;  as  it  reaches  the  summit,  a  vast,  desolate 
tract  of  treeless  desert  comes  in  sight.  The  land  is 
either  bare  or  covered  with  scrub,  save  where,  here 
and  there,  a  patch  of  green  tells  that  it  is  yielding  a 
scanty  return  for  the  ineffectual  scratching  of  an 
Arab  plough.  In  the  distance  are  a  few  olives,  lately 
planted  by  the  French,  and  in  the  centre  of  this 
desolation,  closing,  at  a  distance  of  some  six  miles, 
the  dreary  vista  of  a  long  straight  stretch  of  road, 
there  rises  out  of  the  wilderness  the  enormous  bulk 
of  the  amphitheatre.  It  is  like  the  lonely  Church 
of  ApoUinaris,  which  marks,  like  a  huge  gravestone, 
the    place  where  rests  the  vanished  city  of  Classis. 


140  'TWIXT    SAND  AND   SEA 

What  has  become  of  the  mighty  city,  of  the  teeming 
population,  which  required  so  prodigious  a  play- 
ground ?  In  the  third  century  of  our  era,  to 
which  the  building  belongs,  Thysdrus,  with  a  popu- 
lation of  one  hundred  thousand,  was  one  of  the 
most  important  cities  of  Roman  North  Africa.  It 
was  here  that  in  a.d.  238  the  pro-consul  Gordian 
was  proclaimed  Emperor ;  according  to  tradition, 
the  Berber  heroine,  the  Kahenah,  made  this  her 
fortress  in  her  long  fight  for  hberty  against  the  Arab 
invaders.  Now  all  is  gone.  As  we  passed  through 
the  squalid  Arab  village  which  nestles  under  the  wing 
of  the  rugged  walls  of  the  amphitheatre,  some  navvies 
who  were  making  a  new  railroad  had  just  discovered 
the  beautiful  mosaic  floor  of  an  old  Roman  house  ; 
they  offered  it  to  our  party  if  we  could  remove  it. 
This  was,  of  course,  impossible,  and  it  was  destroyed. 
So  late  as  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century  the 
amphitheatre  was  almost  intact.  Then  the  natives 
rebelled,  refused  to  pay  taxes,  and  shutting  them- 
selves up,  like  the  Frangipani  at  Rome,  in  their  for- 
tress, stood  a  regular  siege  from  the  troops  of  the  Bey 
of  Tunis.  Victorious  in  the  end,  the  Bey  destroyed  a 
large  section  of  the  building  to  prevent  such  another 
happening. 

But  though  now  by  far  the  most  perfect,  the 
amphitheatre  at  El  Djem  was  not  the  only  one  worthy 
to  be  compared  with  the  Colosseum.  That  at  Carthage 
approached  it  in  size,  and  was,  moreover,  five  storeys 
in  height  instead  of  three.  Fifteen  miles  south  of 
Tunis,  at  Oudna  (Uthina),  was  another,  hollowed  out 
of  the  hill.  Utica  possessed  another,  larger  still, 
but,  like  that  at  Oudna,  hollowed  out  of  a  hill. 
Others  are  found  at  Henchir  Fradiz  (Aphrodisium), 
Ras    Dinas   (Thapsus),   Oued   Maliz   (Simithu),  Bulla 


LIFE   IN   THE   TOWN  141 

Regia,  Sbeitla  (Sufetula),  Lambessa  (Lambaesis), 
Lamta  (Leptis  Parva),  Thyna  (Thoena),  Constantine 
(Cirta),  and,  in  the  far  west,  Cherchel  (Caesarea). 
Doubtless  there  were  others,  but  even  this  number 
is  remarkable  when  we  consider  the  vast  bulk  of  such 
buildings,  and  bears  witness  to  the  terrible  fascination 
of  the  games. 

What  this  fascination  was,  Augustine  tells  us  in 
his  Confessions.  A  pupil  and  friend  of  his,  Alypius, 
had  gone  to  Rome  to  study  law.  One  day  some  friends 
coming  home  from  dinner  met  him  and  dragged  him, 
against  his  will,  to  the  Colosseum.  At  first  he  kept 
his  eyes  shut.  "Would  God,"  says  the  writer,  ''he 
had  stopped  his  ears  also  !  For  in  the  fight,  when 
one  fell,  a  mighty  cry  of  the  people  striking  him 
strongly,  overcome  by  curiosity,  he  opened  his  eyes 
.  .  .  and  fell  more  miserably  than  he  upon  whose 
fall  that  mighty  noise  was  raised.  .  .  .  For  so  soon 
as  he  saw  the  blood  he  therewith  drunk  down  savage- 
ness,  nor  turned  away,  but  fixed  his  eye,  drinking  in 
frenzy  unawares,  and  was  delighted  with  that  guilty 
fight,  and  intoxicated  with  the  bloody  pastime.  Nor 
was  he  now  the  man  he  came  ;  but  one  of  the  throng 
he  came  with.  .  .  .  Why  say  more  ?  He  beheld, 
kindled,  shouted,  carried  with  him  thence  the  madness 
which  should  goad  him  to  return  not  only  with  them 
who  first  drew  him  thither,  but  also  before  them, 
and  to  draw  on  others."  ^ 

Anything  more  fundamentally  contradictory  of 
Christianity  can  hardly  be  imagined,  than  these  hor- 
rible butcheries  "  to  make  a  Roman  holiday."  It 
may  be  that  too  little  emphasis  has  been  laid  on  this 
antagonism  in  endeavouring  to  account  for  the  fierce 
antipathy  of  the  mob  to  the  followers  of  Christ.     The 

^  Con/,  vi.  13  (Pusey's  translation). 


142  'TWIXT   SAND   AND   SEA 

charge  of  disloyalty,  the  refusal,  as  Tertullian  says, 
''  to  call  the  Emperor  a  god,  because  I  cannot  lie, 
and  do  not  choose  to  mock  at  him,"  weighed  heavily, 
doubtless,  \\ith  the  official  world,  where  the  Emperor 
was  the  embodiment  and  symbol  of  law  and  order 
and  empire  ;  but  with  the  rabble,  the  majority  of 
whom  were  not  citizens,  the  condemnation  of  their 
darling  amusements  seemed  far  more  hate-worthy 
than  any  refusal  to  burn  incense  to  Caesar.  It  was 
love  of  the  games  far  more  than  love  of  Caesar  which 
made  the  cry,  ''  Christiani  ad  leones,  Christiance  ad 
lenones,"  so  fierce  and  insistent.  This  more  than 
anything  else  made  persecution  so  easy  and  popular 
that  it  seemed  natural,  even  to  men  like  M.  Aurelius, 
the  most  beautiful  soul  of  the  Roman  world,  to 
sacrifice  Christians  at  the  altars  of  gods,  and  on 
behalf  of  a  doctrine  in  which  he  did  not  himself 
beheve. 

For  us  it  is  the  story  of  the  martyrdom  of  those 
who  there  laid  down  their  lives  for  Christ,  which  gives 
to  those  monstrous  shambles  their  supreme  interest. 
Sometimes  we  know  nothing  save  some  chance  phrase 
of  Tertullian,  "  that  the  prisons  were  crowded  with 
Christians  ;  "  sometimes  a  name  has  been  preserved, 
and  nothing  more — Namphano,  a  slave  from  Madauros, 
and  another  called  Miggin.  Here  and  there,  however, 
a  document  has  been  discovered  whose  authenticity 
will  stand  the  searchUght  of  modern  criticism.  It 
may  almost  be  said  that  it  is  on  a  scene  of  martyr- 
dom that  the  curtain  first  rises  on  church  history  in 
Africa. 

In  A.D.  177  Marcus  AureHus  promulgated  two 
rescripts  against  the  Christians.  On  July  17th, 
A.D.  180,  some  poor  peasants  who  had  been  arrested 
as  Christians  in  the  village  of  Scillium,  were  brought 


LIFE   IN   THE   TOWN  143 

before  the  Proconsul,  Vigellius    Saturninus,   at    Car- 
thage.    They   were   twelve   in    number  —  seven    men 
and  five  women ;   but  the  names  of  only  six  are  re- 
corded.    The  whole  story  shows  that  the  task  was 
I)  distasteful  to  the  judge,  and  that  he  tried  to  get  such 
a  retractation    from   the   prisoners   as   might   enable 
him  to  dismiss  the  case.      "  We,"  he  says  to  one  of 
^1  them,  "  are  religious  men,  like    you,  and  our  religion 
1 1  is  very  simple  ;    we  swear  by  the  genius  of  our  Lord 
I  the  Emperor,  and  pray  for  his  safety,  and  you  ought 
I  to  do  the  same."      Unable  to  win  the  submission  he 
required,  he  offered  them  thirty  days'  grace  in  which 
to  consider  the  matter.      This  they  at  once  refused. 
At  last  he  was  compelled  to  pass  sentence  :  "  Speratus, 
Nartzalus,    Cittinus,    Vestia,    Donata,   Secunda,    and 
the  others  have  confessed   that  they  are  Christians. 
They   have   been    invited   to   return   to   the   religion 
of    Rome,   and  they  have  obstinately  refused.     Our 
sentence  is  that  they  die  by  the  sword."      "  Thanks 
be    to    God,"  they  all   exclaimed.      ''  And   so,"  runs 
the  record,  "  they   together   received   the    crown   of 
martyrdom ;    and    now  they  reign  with  the  Father 
and  the  Son  and  the  Holy  Spirit  for  ever  and  ever, 
Amen." 

It  is  supposed  that  the  basilica  which  was  raised 
over  their  place  of  burial  stood  on  the  little  knoll 
now  called  Koudiat  Tsalli  (The  Hill  of  Prayer)  near 
the  amphitheatre.  Their  bones,  according  to  Pere 
Delattre,*  have  recently  been  discovered  in  the 
Church  of  SS.  Giovanni  e  Paolo  on  the  CoeHan,  in 
Rome. 

After  this  the  Church  had  rest  for  twenty  years. 
In  A.D.  202  an  edict  of  the  new  Emperor,  Septimius 
Severus,  gave  a  fresh  impulse  to  the  persecution.     We 

'  Ruines  de  Carfhai^e,  p.  lo. 


144  'TWIXT   SAND    AND   SEA 

hear  of  Jucundus,  Artaxius,  Saturninus  being  "  burnt 
alive,"  of  Quintus  who  died  in  prison,  of  Emilius  and 
Castus,  a  girl  Guddena,  and  Mavilus  of  Hadrumetum 
(Sousse).  To  this  time  belongs  the  martyrdom  of 
Felicitas  and  Perpetua,  who  are  to-day  honoured 
as  the  patron  saints  of  Carthage. 

Towards  the  end  of  the  year  a.d.  202  five  persons 
were  arrested  at  Thuburbo  Minus  (Tebourba)  and 
brought  to  Carthage,  on  a  charge,  not  of  being  Chris- 
tians, but  of  proselytising.  Three  were  men — Satur- 
ninus, Secundulus,  and  a  slave  Rebocatus(Revocatus). 
Two  were  women — a  lady  of  rank,  Vibia  (Fabia) 
Perpetua,  and  a  slave  girl  Felicitas.  It  is  probable, 
if  not  certain,  that  Perpetua,  and  perhaps  the  others, 
were  Montanists.  Another,  Saturus,  followed  them 
to  Carthage  and  gave  himself  up.  The  Proconsul, 
Minucius  Timinianus,  had  just  died,  and  the  case  came 
before  the  interim  governor,  Hilarianus.  The  career 
castrensis  where  Perpetua  was  confined  is  still  shown 
near  the  modern  buildings  of  St.  Monnica.  The 
prisoners  were  tried  and  condemned  in  the  Pro- 
consular Palace  in  Byrsa,  and  on  the  day  before 
their  martyrdom  they  were  taken  to  the  amphi- 
theatre. There  they  together  shared  their  last 
meal,  the  Ccena  Libera,  to  which  spectators  were 
admitted.  "  Look  at  us  well,"  cried  Saturus,  turning 
fiercely  on  the  gaping  crowd,  "  look  at  us  well, 
that  you  may  be  able  to  recognise  us  at  the  Day  of 
Judgment." 

The  account  of  their  martyrdom  is  so  simple  and 
natural  that  it  may  be  accepted  as  true,  possibly 
even  as  the  report  of  an  actual  eye-witness. 

Before  the  games  they  were  stripped  of  their  clothes, 
sacrificial  fillets  were  bound  on  their  heads,  and  they 
were    given    the    robes    of    priests    of    Hammon,    or 


LIFE   IN   THE  TOWN  145 

priestesses  of  Tanith.  These  they  refused,  so  they 
remained  naked.  The  men  were  exposed  first  to 
the  attack  of  a  leopard,  then  of  a  bear.  For  the 
women,  as  an  insult  to  their  sex,  a  wild  cow  was  pro- 
vided. They  had  both  recently  had  children,  and 
the  sight  of  the  milk  running  down  from  the  breasts 
of  Fehcitas  touched,  for  a  moment,  the  hearts  of 
the  multitudes.  In  obedience  to  the  shouts  which 
arose,  they  were  led  back  and  their  own  clothes  were 
restored  to  them.  Perpetua  returned  first ;  she  was 
tossed  by  the  cow  and  fell  upon  her  back.  Her  dress 
was  torn,  and,  as  she  lay  on  the  ground,  she  drew  it 
over  her  limbs  again  and  tried  to  fasten  up  her  hair, 
which  had  come  down.  She  then  raised  herself,  and 
seeing  Felicitas  lying,  stunned  and  bruised,  she  dragged 
herself  towards  her  and  tried  to  lift  her  up.  The  people 
were  again  touched  with  pity,  and  cried  out  that  their 
lives  should  be  spared,  and  they  were  led  out  by  the  gate 
called  Sanavivaria.  It  is  a  curious  touch,  as  showing  the 
spiritual  exaltation  of  the  martyr,  that  the  first  words 
of  Perpetua  were  a  question,  when  the  martyrdom 
would  begin.  Later  in  the  day  the  mob  changed 
their  minds,  and  demanded  that  they  should  be 
brought  back  to  suffer.  After  giving  one  another 
the  kiss  of  peace,  they  awaited  the  sword  in  silence. 
Saturus  suffered  first  :  Perpetua  last.  The  executioner 
was  a  novice  ;  the  first  blow  failed,  and  she  uttered  a 
cry.  Then,  seeing  that  the  man  was  overcome  and 
trembling,  she  took  the  dagger  in  her  hand  and  herself 
placed  it  at  her  throat. 

In  the  arena  where  they  were  born  again,  a 
cross  has  been  raised  to  their  honour,  and  a  large 
vault,  possibly  the  one  in  which  they  were  placed 
before  the  martyrdom,  dressed  as  a  chapel.  Be- 
tween   St.   Monnica  and  La  Marsa,  a   very  ancient 

K 


146  TWIXT   SAND   AND   SEA 

memoria  martyrum  has  been  discovered;  it  runs  as 
follows  : — 

NT    MARTY    

SATURUS   SATUR   .    .    . 

REBOCATUS    

FELICIT    .    .    .    PER    .... 

In  the  Museum  at  Carthage  is  a  sepulchral  slab, 
said  to  be  that  of  Perpetua.    The  inscription  runs  : — 

PERPETUE    FILIE 
DULCISSIM/E. 

If  this  be  true,  it  would  show  that  she  was  recon- 
ciled to  her  family,  who  remained  pagan  ;  but  the 
name  was  not  uncommon,  and  the  attribution  is  more 
than  doubtful. 

At  Dougga  a  very  interesting  memorial  has  been 
found  of  certain  martyrs  of  whom  we  know  neither 
the  names  nor  the  date.  Near  the  roadside  on  the 
slope  of  the  hill  which  is  crowned  with  the  Temple 
of  Saturn,  are  the  ruins  of  a  Christian  church,  built 
of  stones  from  the  temple.  Close  by,  and  certainly 
connected  with  the  church,  fragments  of  an  inscrip- 
tion have  been  discovered,  imperfect,  indeed,  but  the 
meaning  of  which  is  clear.  It  is  addressed  to  '*  The 
Holy  and  most  Blessed  Martyrs,"  and  speaks  of  four 
cubicula  or  crypts  which  Mammarius,  Granius,  and 
Epideforus  had  built  at  their  own  expense  for  funeral 
feasts,  symposia  or  convivia.  In  Etruscan  times  these 
chambers  and  feasts  were  common  ;  a  very  remarkable 
example  of  such  a  chamber  is  found  in  the  tomb  of 
the  VeHmni  at  Perugia.  But,  in  the  Christian  Church, 
this  seems  to  be  a  solitary  example.^ 

*  Convivia  held  in  honour  of  martyrs,  at  their  graves,  are  mentioned  by 
Theodoret  (a.d.  429)  ;  and  Augustine  complains  of  excessive  drinking  at 
these  feasts.     Vide  Egypt  and  Israel,  p.  133. 


I 


LIFE   IN   THE   TOWN  147 

The  inscription  is  as  follows  : — 

SANCTI  ET  BEATISSIMI  MARTURES  PETIMUS  IN  MENTE  HABEATIS 
UT  DONENTUR  VOBIS  ....  SIMPOSIUM  MAMMARIUM  CRANIUM  EPIDE- 
FORUM  QUI  HiEC  CUBICULA  QUATTUOR  AD  CONVIVIA  PRO  MARTURIBUS 
SUIS   SUMPTIBUS    ET   SUIS    OPERIBUS    FECERUNT. 

The  Theatre 

An  amphitheatre  or  circus  was  a  luxury,  a  theatre 
was  almost  a  necessity  of  every  self-respecting  town. 
Hollowed,  whenever  possible,  out  of  the  summit  or 
flank  of  a  hill,  we  find  their  remains  not  only  in  great 
cities  such  as  Carthage  or  Sufetula  (Sbeitla)  or  Hadru- 
metum  (Sousse),  but  in  little  frontier  fortresses  like 
Timgad  or  Tebessa,  and  country  towns  such  as  Dougga. 
For  four  hundred  years  the  theatre  maintained  its 
popularity,  but  it  did  so  only  because  it  was  content 
to  follow  rather  than  to  form  popular  taste  ;  and 
popular  taste,  at  any  rate  among  the  Romans,  fell 
very  low. 

In  truth,  the  Romans  never  took  kindly  to  the 

Greek  drama,  whether  tragic  or  comic.    The  solemnity 

1  of  the  themes  chosen,  the  restrained  majesty  of  the 

'  poetry,   the   elaborate   and  balanced  melody  of  the 

choruses,   all   this   required   an   elevation   of   mental 

,  training  and  a  sensitiveness  of  ear  of  which  a  Roman 

;  audience  was  as  incapable   as  an  English  one  would 

i  be  to-day  ;   and  so  Tragedy  became  Drama  and  Drama 

i  Melodrama.    In  the  days  of  the  Republic,  before  cheap 

and  easy  divorce  had  destroyed  the  sanctity  of  marriage 

j  and  of  the  family  life,  while  **  Matron  "  was  still 

1  "  Magnum  et  venerabile  nomen, 

Gentibus,  et  nostra  multum  quod  profuit  urbi," 

dramatists  kept  their  hands  off  the  subject ;  but  under 
I  the  Empire,  when  women  counted  the  years  by  their 


148  'TWIXT   SAND   AND  SEA 

divorces  instead  of  by  the  Consuls,  problem  plays, 
trusting  to  the  violation  of  the  Seventh  Commandment 
for  their  interest,  and  extracting  such  fun  as  they 
could  out  of  the  wrongs  of  the  deceived  and  befooled 
husband,  became  the  rage. 

The  decay  of  Comedy  was  even  more  rapid  and 
complete ;  the  fall  from  Comedy  to  Farce,  from  Farce 
to  Burlesque,  and  from  Burlesque  to  mere  buffoonery 
was  unbroken,  until  at  last  the  legitimate  Drama 
became  little  better  than  a  variety  entertainment. 
"There,"  says  Apuleius,^  "the  Mimic  plays  the  fool, 
the  Comedian  chatters,  the  Tragedian  rants,  the 
Pantomimist  (actor  in  dumb  show)  gesticulates,  the 
Acrobat  risks  his  neck,  and  the  Conjurer  does  his 
tricks."  By  degrees  the  old  Drama,  in  which  many 
characters  had  their  balanced  parts,  was  broken  up 
into  monologues  ;  sometimes  the  choirs  occupied  the 
orchestra  and  accompanied  the  actor  as  he  declaimed, 
"  through  music  "  ;  sometimes  the  choir  played  and 
sang  while  the  actor  did  his  part  in  dumb-show.  Then 
there  was  the  Mimic  who  imitated  common  actions 
and  vulgar  people  ;  or  the  rough-and-tumble  work  of 
the  Clown,  with  the  Pantaloon,  siupidus  gregis,  who 
took  all  the  kicks  and  buffetings ;  or  the  comic  busi- 
ness, like  the  harlequinade  of  old-fashioned  pantomime, 
between  the  thief  (JLaureolus)  and  the  policeman.  Here 
there  came  a  touch  of  tragedy,  for  since  Roman  pro- 
priety required  that  the  law  should  triumph  in  the 
end,  it  was  necessary  that  eventually  the  poor  knave 
should  be  caught  and  crucified.  Under  Domitian  this 
sentence  was  actually  carried  out  on  the  stage,  to  the 
great  content  of  the  audience,  who,  then  as  now,  loved 
realism.^ 

Lastly,  the  performance  ended  with  a  general  tombola 

^  Flor,  1-5.  2  LAfrique  Romaine^^.2^(). 


LIFE   IN   THE   TOWN  149 

or  scramble,  in  which  the  weaker  were  thrown  down, 
trampled  on,  suffocated,  and  sometimes  killed.  Fruit, 
sweetmeats,  cakes,  money,  coins,  and  medals,  with 
filthy  devices,  struck  for  the  purpose,  were  showered 
upon  the  rows  of  seats.  At  last  it  was  found  necessary 
to  give  lottery  tickets  (tesserce)  to  the  respectable  folk, 
and  let  them  leave  before  the  horse-play  began. 

As  last  signs  of  decadence,  encores  were  allowed, 
and  a  claque,  laudiceni,  employed. 

To  turn  from  the  performances  to  the  buildings  is 
like  coming  out  of  darkness  into  hght ;  it  is  difficult 
to  imagine  anything  more  beautiful  and  gracious  than 
some  of  the  African  theatres. 

It  is  sometimes  said  that  whereas  the  Greeks  placed 
their  theatres  high  up,  amid  beautiful  scenery,  as  at 
Taormina,  or  Syracuse,  or  Segestus,  the  Romans  were 
indifferent  about  the  surroundings.  Certainly  this  is 
true  of  the  two  principal  theatres  of  Rome,  those  of 
Pompey  and  Marcellus,  as  it  is  of  some  in  Africa,  such 
as  those  at  Bulla  Regia,  Colonia  JuHa  Assuras  (Zam- 
four),  or  Althiburos  (Medeina),  and  always  for  the  same 
reason  that  they  had  to  be  erected  on  level  ground ; 
but  whenever  possible,  as  at  Thamugadi,  or  Carthage, 
or  Thugga,  they  were  hollowed  out  of  the  summit,  or 
at  any  rate,  the  flank  of  a  hill,  and  commanded  a  view 
hardly  inferior  to  the  famous  panoramas  from  the 
theatres  of  Sicily.  Since,  except  in  detail,  they  very 
closely  resemble  one  another,  let  us  take  as  an  example 
that  at  Dougga,  as  being  the  most  perfect  as  well  as 
the  most  beautiful  both  in  structure  and  in  situation. 

As  is  the  case  wdth  all  Latin  theatres,  and  it  is  one 
of  the  points  which  distinguish  them  from  the  Greek, 
the  auditorium,  or  cavea,  is  a  perfect  semicircle,  the 
diameter  in  this  case  being  seventy  yards  and  the 
radius  thirty-five.     The  orchestra,  or  pit,  is  surrounded 


150  'TWIXT   SAND   AND    SEA 

by  five  steps,  on  which  were  placed  seats  for  magis- 
trates and  persons  of  importance.  Access  to  this  part 
of  the  theatre,  which  was  separated  by  a  wall  from 
the  rest,  was  given  by  two  arched  entrances  or 
vomitoria,  one  on  each  side.  Over  that  to  the  right, 
as  you  face  the  audience,  was  the  royal  box,  or 
pulviiiar,  which  was  occupied  usually  by  the  man  who 
bore  the  expense  of  the  spectacle.  The  rest  of  the 
cavea,  which  was  hollowed  out  of  the  hill,  was  formed 
of  twenty-five  rows  of  seats.  These  were  divided  into 
three  classes,  one  above  the  other,  by  walls  and  pas- 
sages ;  access  was  given  by  a  grand  staircase  down 
the  middle  and  four  other  staircases  which  divided 
the  seats  into  six  cunei  or  wedges.  Round  the  top 
ran  a  handsome  pillared  portico  or  arcade.  The 
portico,  which  had  five  doors,  one  opposite  each  stair- 
case, bore,  as  usual,  a  great  inscription.  This  informs 
us,  with  much  detail,  that  Publius  Marcius  Quadratus, 
on  the  occasion  of  his  elevation  to  the  post  of  Perpetual 
Flamen  of  the  divine  Augustus,  by  the  Emperor  An- 
toninus, presented  the  entire  theatre  to  his  country ;  i 
that  he  also  gave  in  it  scenic  representations,  a  dis- 
tribution of  food,  a  feast,  and  a  show  of  gymnastics. 

Let  us  now  turn  to  the  stage. 

In  front  of  the  stage,  or  scena,  beyond  the  passage" 
between  the  two  vomitoria,  stood  the  pulpitum  ;  this 
was  a  wall  about  three  feet  high,  in  which  were  a 
series  of  seven  recesses,  alternately  square  and  semi- 
circular ;  in  the  middle  recess,  which  was  semicircular, 
stood  the  altar,  which  in  a  Greek  theatre  would  have 
stood  in  the  centre  of  the  orchestra  ;  it  reminds  us 
that,  even  in  its  worst  days,  the  performance  never 
altogether  lost  its  religious  character,  and  for  this 
reason,  men  had  to  attend  in  full  dress,  that  is,  wearing 
the  toga.    Tertullian  created  such  a  scandal  at  Carthage 


LIFE   IN   THE   TOWN  151 

by  breaking  this  rule  and  going  in  his  pallium  only, 
that  he  was  obliged  to  publish  an  elaborate  explanation 
and  apology.  In  the  last  recess  at  each  end  was  a 
staircase,  by  which,  if  necessary,  the  choir  or  per- 
formers could  reach  the  orchestra. 

Behind  this  was  the  curtain,  the  auleum.  As  a 
rule,  this  was  like  our  drop  scene,  of  a  single  piece,  but 
it  worked  on  a  roller  which  lay  below  the  stage,  so  that 
it  was  dropped  at  the  beginning,  and  raised  at  the 
end  of  the  performance.  On  the  bottom  of  it  were 
painted  or  worked  figures  of  Britons,  so  that  as  it 
rose  it  seemed  as  if  they  were  raising  it — 

"  Purpurea  intexti  tollunt  aulea  Britanni."^ 

On  the  stage  of  the  theatre  of  Timgad  there  are  still 
sixteen  holes  for  the  supports  on  which  the  roller 
rested. 

The  arrangement  at  Dougga  was  somewhat  different, 
in  that  a  series  of  small  curtains  took  the  place  of  one 
large  one  ;  but  it  has  been  found  necessary  to  rebuild 
the  front  of  the  stage,  and  the  method  of  working  the 
curtains  is  not  clear. 

The  stage  itself,  which  is  about  seventeen  feet 
deep,  was  covered  with  mosaic,  except  in  the  middle, 
where  there  were  four  trap-doors,  for  the  sudden 
appearance  of  gods  or  ghosts,  "  '  Mater  te  appello  ' 
dictitantes,"  ^  and  other  similar  stage  business. 

All  this  is  not  very  unlike  a  modern  theatre,  and 
has  been  imitated  with  success  at  Bayreuth.  The 
great  difference  is  in  the  solid  wall  which  took  the 
place  of  our  movable  scenery,  at  the  back  of  the  stage. 
This  was  as  high  as  the  gallery  which  ran  round  the 
top  of  the  cavea,  and  must  have  been  of  two,  if  not 
three,  storeys,  of  great  splendour  and  beauty. 

'  Verg.,  A£n.  i.  282.  *  Cic,  Pro  Cluentio. 


152  'TWIXT   SAND  AND  SEA 

Across  the  stage,  from  side  to  side,  ran  a  low  wall 
about  four  feet  high,  on  which  rested  an  arcade  of 
thirty-two  pillars.  The  wall  was  not  straight,  but, 
like  the  pulpitum,  followed  the  line  almost  universally 
adopted  by  the  Imperial  architects,  and  was  bent  into 
a  semicircular  apse  in  the  centre,  flanked  by  a  square 
recess  on  either  side.  In  the  centre  of  each  of  these 
was  a  staircase,  rising  from  the  stage  in  front,  and 
dropping  to  the  green  room,  or  part  reserved  for 
the  actors,  behind.  By  the  side  of  each  of  these 
flights  of  steps  were  four  pillars,  rising  to  the  height 
of  the  others,  but  resting  on  the  stage.  The  arcade 
of  pillars  undoubtedly  carried  a  cornice  ;  how  these 
large  pillars  were  crowned  is  uncertain  :  perhaps  they 
carried  statues.  The  upper  storey  or  storeys  of  the 
scena  have  perished. 

Such  is  the  theatre  of  Dougga ;  but  the  whole  place 
is  so  interesting,  and  is  so  good  an  example  of  a  pros- 
perous Roman  country  town,  as  to  deserve  a  somewhat 
more  detailed  notice  than  can  be  given  by  a  description 
of  the  separate  buildings. 


CHAPTER    IX 

A    COUNTRY    TOWN 

The  journey  from  Tunis  to  Dougga  is  rather  wearisome. 
For  the  first  forty  miles  the  train  takes  us  along  the 
banks  of  the  Medjerba  to  Medjez-el-Bab,  the  Roman 
Membressa.  It  was  on  the  plain,  south-east  of  Mem- 
bressa,  that  in  a.d.  536,  Belisarius  defeated  the 
mutineers  under  his  former  lieutenant  Stotzas.  Of 
the  gateway  which  gave  the  place  its  modern  name, 
*'  The  Gate  of  the  Ford,"  nothing  remains.  In  fact, 
with  the  exception  of  a  few  capitals,  and  the  stones  of 
which  the  modern  bridge  has  been  constructed,  nothing 
remains  of  the  old  Roman  settlement.  The  Arab 
village  was  founded  in  the  fifteenth  century  by  the 
Moors  who  had  been  driven  from  Andalucia.  The 
rest  of  the  journey,  lasting  six  to  seven  hours,  has 
to  be  made  in  a  covered  cart,  called  by  courtesy  a 
diligence. 

The  road  runs  along  the  lower  slopes  of  the  Djebel 
Djebs,  between  which  and  the  Djebel  Krab  the  Med- 
jerba flows,  through  Slouguia  (Chiddibia)  to  Testour 
(Tichilla).  Both  these  villages  were  also  founded  by 
the  Moors  from  Spain,  The  open  spaces,  the  wide 
straight  streets,  the  tiled  houses  with  pent-houses  in 
front — above  all,  the  white  complexion  of  the  Andlas, 
as  the  inhabitants  are  called,  give  the  villages  a 
strangely  European  appearance. 

Another  five  miles  and  we  reach  Ain  Tounga,  which 
once  bore  the  sonorous  name  of  Municipium  Septimium 
Aurelium  Antoninianum  Herculeum  frugiferum  Thig- 


154  'TWIXT  SAND  AND  SEA 

niccB.  The  ruins  are  very  extensive  and  interesting ; 
they  include  temples  to  Mercury,  Saturn,  Coelestis, 
and  an  unknown  deity  ;  the  remains  of  cisterns,  a 
triumphal  arch,  a  church,  and  a  huge  Byzantine 
fortress. 

Leaving  the  Siliana,  which  we  have  followed  for 
some  miles,  we  follow  the  Oued  Khalled  through  Sustri 
(Civitas  Sustritana)  and  Ain  Golea  to  Teboursouk 
(Thubursicum  Bure).     Here  we  stay  for  the  night. 

Teboursouk  was  at  one  time  a  town  of  some  im- 
portance, but  little  of  the  old  Roman  colony  remains, 
except  two  triumphal  arches,  which  have  been  built 
up  in  the  walls  of  the  vast  and  very  interesting  Byzan- 
tine fortress,  and  part  of  the  old  city  wall.  It  is 
built  high  up  against  the  rocky  hill  of  Sidi  Rahma. 
A  deep  ravine  protects  it  in  front. 

From  Teboursouk  a  drive  of  about  six  miles  brings 
us  to  Dougga.  The  road  climbs  higher  and  higher 
along  the  flank  of  a  great  amphitheatre  of  hills,  the 
Kef  Teboursouk  and  the  Kef  Dougga,  to  a  lofty  cape, 
pushing  out  into  the  plain,  on  the  farther  slope  of 
which  the  ruined  city  Hes.  Climbing  up  the  precipitous 
side  of  the  hill  to  the  plateau  which  crowns  it,  we  find 
ourselves  among  the  scattered  dolmens  of  some  forgotten 
race.  They  much  resemble  those  at  Roknia,^  but  are 
less  numerous,  less  perfect,  and  therefore  less  interest- 
ing. Beyond  them  lies  the  spina  of  the  circus.  It  was 
two  hundred  yards  long,  but,  except  the  metcB  at  the 
ends,  little  now  remains.  To  the  left  of  it  lay  a 
temple ;  then  a  group  of  cisterns  fed  by  a  little 
aqueduct,  and  then  the  great  Byzantine  enceinte  which 
ran  from  the  edge  of  the  precipice  to  the  capitol,  which 
crowned  the  other  slope  of  the  hill. 

ScrambUng  over  the  Byzantine  wall,  we  find  our- 

^  VtdeVaLXi  II.,  Chapter  I. 


A  COUNTRY  TOWN  155 

selves  in  the  Temple  of  Saturn/  and  at  our  feet,  low 
down  by  the  side  of  the  road,  lies  an  interesting 
Christian  basilica,  built  with  the  stones  of  the  old 
temple.  It  must  have  been  a  pretty  httle  building 
of  the  usual  type,  a  nave  with  aisles  and  arcades  of 
pillars,  and  a  semicircular  apse  at  the  east  end ;  two 
flights  of  steps  led  up  to  the  presbyierkim,  and  two 
others  down  to  the  very  perfect  crypt  below.  Several 
sarcophagi  have  been  found  in  situ ;  on  one  we  can 
still  read  the  name  : 

VICTORIA  SANTIMONIALE   IN  PACE. 

Two  annexes  lie  to  the  north  and  to  the  south.  Close 
by  was  found  the  inscription  to  the  "  Holy  and  Happy 
Martyrs,"  printed  elsewhere.- 

A  few  steps  from  the  Temple  of  Saturn  bring  us 
to  the  great  central  entrance  to  the  arcade,  which 
encircled  the  topmost  row  of  seats  in  the  theatre.  We 
pass  on,  and  pause  for  a  moment  to  look  at  one  of 
the  most  beautiful  scenes  that  North  Africa  has  to 
show. 

The  morning  had  been  wet,  and,  though  the  sun 
had  broken  through  and  was  shining  brightly,  heavy 
masses  of  cloud  still  floated  across  the  sky  and  threw 
dark  patches  of  purple  shadow  over  hill  and  valley 
before  us.  To  the  left  stretched  the  long  fertile 
valley  of  the  Oued  Khalled,  through  which  ran  the 
road^  from  Carthage,  through  Sicca  Veneria  (Kef) 
to  Theveste  (Tebessa).  It  was  along  this  road  that 
Matho  and  Spendius  led  the  mutinous  mercenaries, 
and  it  was  here  that  they  found  the  multitude  of 

1   VzWe  p.  24.  2    Vuie  p.  147. 

^  An  inscription  at  Theveste  tells  us  that  this  road  was  made  by  the 
Third  Legion,  when  Publius  Mitilius  Secundus  was  Propraetor,  and  that  it 
ran  from  Theveste  to  Carthage,  a  distance  of  two  hundred  and  eleven  miles, 
seven  hundred  and  forty  paces. 


156  'TWIXT   SAND   AND   SEA 

crosses  bearing  crucified  lions.  Somewhere  near  lay 
Zama.  Under  Roman  cultivation  it  must  have  been 
a  tract  of  immense  fertility,  as  indeed  is  shown  by  the 
incredible  number  of  Roman  towns,  villas,  and  stations 
which  lay  in  all  directions.  Even  now  the  fields 
of  wheat  and  barley,  the  vineyards,  and  above  all 
the  great  olive  gardens,  show  that  its  richness  is 
returning.  On  the  other  side  the  wide  open  valley 
is  shut  in  by  the  heights  of  the  Djebel  Abdullah 
Cherid.  Higher  still,  in  the  far  blue  distance,  start 
up  the  wild  crags  of  Zaghouan. 

Close  in  front,  and  to  our  right,  lay  the  wonderful 
ruins  of  the  wealthy  Roman  town,  Colonia  Licinia 
Septimia  Aurelia  Alexandrina  Thugga.  It  took  its 
name  from  the  Libyan  village  of  "  Tucca,"  "  The 
Pastures." 

Immediately  below  us,  just  outside  the  theatre, 
lay  the  squalid  little  Arab  village  of  Dougga,  which 
unfortunately  occupies  much  of  the  site  of  the  old 
town.  In  a  sheltered  spot  close  by,  an  Arab  sheik, 
in  gorgeous  apparel,  was  exercising  his  horse,  in 
readiness  for  the  Fantasia  which  was  to  be  held  at 
Tunis  on  the  following  Sunday,  in  the  presence  of  the 
Bey  and  of  the  French  authorities.  The  horse 
was  richly  caparisoned.  The  head-piece,  blinkers, 
and  reins,  and  the  high  saddle,  rising  almost  to  the 
shoulders  of  the  rider,  were  of  red  leather,  worked 
in  gold.  The  feet  rested  in  broad,  square  stirrups, 
the  sharp  corners  of  which  acted  as  spurs.  But  in 
addition  to  these,  the  rider  wore  murderous-looking 
prick-spurs,  nearly  a  foot  long,  with  which  he  could 
stab  his  unfortunate  horse  in  the  very  tenderest 
places,  and  make  it  prance  and  rear,  not  from  spirit, 
but  from  sheer  agony.  In  a  corner  against  a  wall 
squatted  a  musician,  to  the   sound  of  whose   pipes 


A  COUNTRY  TOWN  157 

the  horseman  was  trying  to  make  his  horse  keep 
time.  All  round  stood  or  crouched  a  group  of  natives, 
watching  his  evolutions  with  the  languid  curiosity 
which  is  all  they  ever  vouchsafe  to  show. 

To  the  right  of  the  theatre  lies  the  Forum,  con- 
sisting, not  of  a  single  court  as  at  Timgad,  but  of  a 
series  of  small  spaces,  esplanades,  and  staircases,  in 
the  centre  of  which  stands  the  Capitol.^  We  follow 
an  old  road,  only  partly  excavated.  To  our  left  as 
we  enter  the  Forum  is  a  little  semicircular  shrine 
dedicated  to  Pietas  Augusta.  Close  by  are  the 
foundations,  now  overgrown  with  shrubs,  of  a  rect- 
angular building,  probably  a  Temple  of  Fortune,  ac- 
cording to  an  inscription  found  close  by  :  "  Fortunae. 
AvG  Veneri  C0NCORDI.E  Mercvrio." 

Thus  we  reach  the  upper  court  of  the  Forum, 
called  the  Place  of  the  Rose  of  the  Winds.  In  front 
rises  the  wonderful  Capitol  :  to  the  right  lies  the 
Temple  of  Mercury.  The  sanctuary  consisted  of 
three  cells,  preceded  by  a  portico  of  ten  pillars  carr3/ing 
a  long  inscription,  telhng  us  how  Quintus  Pacuvius 
Saturus,  his  wife  Nahania  Victoria,  and  their  son  Felix 
Victorianus  built  this  Temple  to  Mercury.  Another 
text  shows  that  it  was  built  between  the  years 
A.D.  160-220. 

On  the  pavement  of  the  Forum,  in  front  of  the 
temple,  is  cut  a  curious  chart  or  compass  of  the  winds, 
from  which  the  place  takes  its  name.  It  is  a  large 
circle,  divided  into  twenty-four  segments.  In  every 
other  one  of  these  is  carved  the  name  of  the  wind 
which  blew  from  that  quarter.  Here  are  the  names  : 
Septentrio  (N.).  Aqvilo.  Evroaqvilo.  Vvltvrnvs 
(E.).  EvRVS.  Levconotvs.  Avster  (S.).  Libonotvs. 
Africvs.    Favonivs  (W.).    Argestes.    Circivs. 

^   Vide  p.  loi. 


158  'TWIXT   SAND  AND  SEA 

Beyond  the  Forum  stands  high  against  the  sky 
the  beautiful  portico  of  the  Capitol.  Then  past  the 
Arch  of  Severus,  known  as  the  Roman  Gate,  Bab 
er  Roumia,  and  beyond  another  cluster  of  cisterns 
fed  by  an  aqueduct,  fed  with  the  waters  of  the  Ain-el- 
Hamman,  we  catch  a  ghmpse  through  its  sheltering 
olives  of  the  lovely  Temple  of  Coelestis.^ 

A  little  below  the  Forum  rises  the  striking  gateway 
of  the  Dar-el-Acheb,  or  House  of  Ahab,  as  it  is  called 
from  the  name  of  its  owner.  Its  former  purpose  is 
unknown . 

Immediately  in  front  of  us,  the  ground  drops  so 
abruptly  that  it  reaches  to  the  second  storey  at  the 
back,  of  houses  which  open  on  the  roadway  in  front. 
The  beautiful  mosaic  floors  of  many  of  these  remain 
in  situ.  Others  are  at  Tunis.  Amongst  these  is  that 
of  the  charioteer  "  Eros  "  ^  and  a  very  large  one  of 
three  colossal  Cyclopes  working  in  the  cavern-forge  of 
Vulcan.  The  mosaic  is  much  injured,  but  the  Cyclopes 
are  almost  perfect.  They  are  wielding  sledge-hammers. 
The  hammer  of  one  has  just  struck  the  anvil.  The 
second  holds  his  high  over  his  head  poised  in  the  very  act 
of  bringing  it  down.  The  third  is  leaning  backwards 
with  his  hammer  thrown  behind  him,  gathering  his 
full  strength  for  the  stroke.  The  rhythmical  swing 
of  the  three  hammers  is  admirable ;  while,  for  the 
freedom  and  vigour  of  its  figure-drawing,  this  wonder- 
ful mosaic  deserves  to  rank  with  a  fresco  of  Michael 
Angelo. 

Perhaps  the  most  beautiful  of  these  houses  is  that 
which  is  called,  from  the  shape  of  one  of  its  rooms, 
"  The  Trefoil."  The  house  consists  of  a  court  planted 
with  trees  and  shrubs,  and  surrounded  by  a  portico 
formed  of   columns  covered  with   stucco,   on   which 

"■   J'/rt'd'p.  33.  2   Vide  p.  130. 


J 


A  COUNTRY  TOWN  159 

rested  a  wooden  ceiling.  The  floor  is  covered  with  a 
rich  pavement  of  mosaics,  representing  two  masques, 
tragic  and  comic,  a  pigeon,  and  leafy  vine  branches 
encircling  a  horse.  The  house  is  approached  from 
behind  by  a  beautiful  staircase  with  landings  enriched 
with  mosaics. 

To  our  right  as  we  descend  the  hill  lie  the  great 
public  thermae,  supplied  with  water  by  cisterns  which 
are  themselves  fed  by  an  aqueduct.  To  our  left  are 
the  imposing  ruins  of  another  arch  to  Septimius 
Severus. 

Passing  on,  through  an  olive  garden  in  which  are 
the  remains  of  some  huge  dolmen  tombs,  formed  of 
dressed  stones,  and  of  a  much  later  date  than  those 
near  the  Temple  of  Saturn,  we  see  the  imposing  mass 
of  the  great  Libico-Punic  mausoleum  of  Ataban,  about 
which  so  much  has  been  said.^  Surrounded  by  oHves 
of  immemorial  age,  it  looks  out  calmly  over  the  green 
valley  and  on  the  great  road,  first  made  when  itself 
was  old,  along  which  so  many  civilisations  have 
stormed  and  passed  away,  leaving  the  old  Berber  stock 
almost  where  and  as  they  found  it. 

^   Vide  p.  12,  and  Part  II.,  Chapter  III. 


CHAPTER    X 

LACHRYM.E  ECCLESI^,   a.d.    150-423 

The  beginnings  of  Christianity  in  North  Africa  are 
lost  beyond  the  reach,  not  merely  of  history,  but  even 
of  tradition  or  legend.  We  know  nothing  of  the  Httle 
group  of  Christians — slaves,  sailors,  merchants,  or 
soldiers — who  no  doubt  formed  here,  as  they  did  at 
Rome,  the  first  nucleus  of  a  Christian  community ; 
nothing  of  the  apostolic  man  or  bishop,  who,  hke 
St.  Paul  at  Rome,  built  up  the  congregation  into  a 
Church.  All  we  can  say  is  that,  when  light  first  breaks 
in,  late  in  the  second  century,  we  find  a  vigorous  and 
active  Church,  widely  spread  and  fully  organised,  with 
bishops  in  all  the  important  towns.  Agrippinus, 
Bishop  of  Carthage,  summoned  ^  a  synod  of  seventy. 
In  general  character  it  resembled  the  Eastern  churches, 
such  as  those  of  Asia  Minor,  more  than  the  Church 
of  Rome,  especially  in  the  position  assigned  to  the 
bishops,  which  was,  at  any  rate  after  the  time  of 
Cyprian,  essentially  autocratic  and  monarchic,  rather 
than  constitutional,  as  it  has  always  been  at  Rome ; 
no  body  of  priests,  for  instance,  ever  claimed  or  gained 
the  position  occupied  at  the  Imperial  city  by  the 
College  of  Cardinals.  It  treated  with  Rome  as  a  sister 
Church  ;  sometimes  submitting  to  it  its  difficulties  for 
solution,  sometimes  itself  called  in  to  give  its  decision 
in  some  difficult  case.  Thus  in  the  time  of  Cyprian, 
A.D.  251,  the  claims  of  the  rival  Popes,  Novatianus 
and  Cornelius,  were  referred  to  him  for  adjudication. 

^  Circ.  A.D.  215. 
160 


I 


LACHRYM.E  ECCLESI^  i6r 

The  Church  was  Eastern,  too,  in  its  fiery  turbulence 
and  restless  activity,  but  with  the  great  difference  that 
the  questions  which  divided  it  were  not  intellectual^ 
but  disciplinary.  It  produced  no  great  heresiarch,  but 
was  torn  asunder  and  finally  destroyed  by  the  schis- 
matic Donatus.  The  questions  which  disturbed  and 
distracted  it  did  not  concern  the  doctrine  of  the 
Trinity  or  of  the  Divinity  of  Our  Lord,  but  the  validity 
of  baptism  administered  by  heretics,  and,  above  all, 
the  treatment  to  be  dealt  out  to  those  who,  in  time 
of  persecution,  had  fallen  away. 

The  history  of  the  Church  gathers  round  three  or 
four  outstanding  men — the  fiery  apologist,  Tertullian  ; 
the  great  Bishop,  Cyprian  ;  the  schismatic,  Donatus  ; 
the  learned  theologian,  Augustine.  It  will  give 
coherence  as  well  as  colour  and  interest  to  what 
follows,  to  make  it  centre,  so  far  as  possible,  in  these 
names. 

Tertullian  was  born  at  Carthage  about  the  year 

A.D.  150,1  and  died  there  about  sixty  years  later  ;  that 

is  all  we  know.     His  parents  were  heathen  ;  his  father 

was  a  Proconsular  centurion  ;   he  himself  was  brought 

|i  up  to  be  a  lawyer.     He  was  converted  to  Christianity 

in  the  year  a.d.  192,  and  ordained  deacon  and  priest ; 

{  in    A.D.    199    he    joined    the    schism    of    Montanus,^ 

I  driven  to  it,  he  says,  by  the  envy  and  contumelious- 

:|  ness  of  the  clergy.     Such,  in  bare  outline,  was  his 

'    life.     Its  importance   lies  in   the   period   it   covered, 

I  and   in   the  writings  which   his   surroundings  called 

'  forth. 

The  Golden  Age  of  the  Empire  died  with  Marcus 

»  That  is,  about  twenty  years  before  the  first  persecution,  in  which  the 
,  martyrs  from  ScilHum  sealed  their  faith  with  their  blood.     We  read  of  ncv 
}  [  martyrs  between  those  of  Scillium  and  Thuburbo,  a.d.  180-198. 

*  Shortly  before  the  death  of  the   Montanist  martyrs  from  Thuburbo. 
Vide  p.  144. 

L 


i62  TWIXT   SAND   AND   SEA 

Aurelius  in  a.d.  i8o.  The  Age  of  Iron  began  wdth  his 
son  Commodus,  the  Gladiator.  Still,  both  he  and  his 
successors,  Pertinax  and  Didiiis  JuHanus,  in  spite  of 
the  efforts  made  by  the  priestesses  of  Coelestis  to 
influence  Pertinax,  were  friendly,  or  at  least  neutral, 
towards  Christianity.  With  Septimius  Severus  (a.d. 
193-21 1)  began  the  military  despotism,  and  with  it 
a  time  of  persecution. 

Severus  was  a  Berber,  born  at  Leptis,  and  raised  to 
the  purple  by  his  army.  Not  unnaturally,  he  relied 
upon  the  army  which  had  placed  him  on  the  throne. 
"Enrich  the  soldiers,"  he  said;  "never  mind  the 
others."  His  interest  in  North  Africa,  and  her  pride 
in  him,  are  writ  large  on  the  face  of  the  country,  in 
the  many  triumphal  arches  erected  in  his  honour,  at 
Tebessa,  Lambessa,  the  two  great  camps  on  the  slopes 
of  the  Aures,  at  Haidra  (Ammsedara),  Dougga,  and  else- 
where. During  the  civil  war  which  occupied  the  first 
years  of  his  reign,  he  was  busy  about  other  things, 
and  the  Church  in  Italy  had  peace  ;  but  in  Africa 
there  were  intervals  of  sharp  and  cruel  persecution. 
At  last,  with  peace  to  the  Empire,  came  times  of 
trouble  to  the  Church  ;  in  a.d.  198,  when  Vigellius 
Saturninus  was  Proconsul,  the  sword  was  definitely 
unsheathed. 

The  apology,  or  defence  of  Christianity,  which  this 
called  forth,  is  the  best  known  and  most  famous  of 
all  the  writings  of  Tertullian,  and  this  not  merely 
because  of  its  impassioned  eloquence  and  vigour  and 
dialectical  skill.  More  remarkable  than  any  of  these  is 
the  tone  adopted  and  the  absence  of  any  "  apology  "  in 
the  modern  sense  of  the  word.  There  is  no  plea  for 
mercy,  but  a  demand  for  justice  ;  no  cry  for  pardon  for 
hidden  crime  or  disloyalty,  but  a  claim  for  praise  and 
honour  for  conspicuous  virtue.     Christians  are  the  best 


LACHRYM^  ECCLESIiE  163 

citizens,!  the  truest  patriots  ;  to  fight  against  them  is 
useless  ;  to  destroy  them  is  impossible  ;  they  multiply 
under  persecution,  and,  in  his  own  great  words,  "  the 
blood  of  Christians  is  the  seed  "  of  the  Church.^  With 
fierce  eloquence  he  defends  God  Himself  for  permitting 
persecution  and  martyrdom.  It  is  not  death — it  is  sal- 
vation ;  God  is  killing  death  by  death,  and  is  justified 
in  doing  so.  "  What  you  call  perversity,  I  call  reason  ; 
what  you  call  cruelty,  I  call  kindness."  ''  Perversitas 
quam  put  as  Ratio  est,  quod  scBvitiam  cBstimas  Gratia  est." 

It  is  in  such  paradoxes  as  these  that  he  delights  ; 
we  find  them  on  every  page  :  "  Lie  to  be  true,"  "  God 
is  great  when  little  ;  "  or,  to  take  the  most  celebrated 
of  them  all,  "  The  Son  of  God  died ;  it  is  credible 
because  it  is  fooHshness  ;  buried.  He  rose  again  ;  it  is 
certain  because  it  is  impossible."  ''  Mortuus  est  Dei 
Filius,  prorsus  credible  est  quia  ineptum  est  ;  Et  sepultus 
resurrexit,  certum  est  quia  impossibile  est.'*  ^  Well  may 
Pusey  say  of  him,  "  His  writings  were  thunderbolts, 
the  fire  which  kindles  and  the  beacon  which  warns  ;  " 
or,  in  his  own  words,  **  O  wretched  man  that  I  am, 
always  consumed  with  the  fever  of  impatience." 
''Miserrimus  ego,  semper  eager  caloribus  impatienticB."  It 
is  easy  to  understand  why  he  set  so  deep  a  stamp 
upon  the  character  of  the  African  Church,  and  how 
it  was  that  men  like  Cyprian  and  Augustine  fell  so 
completely  under  his  sway. 

A  very  Malleus  Hcereticorum,  his  pen  was  always 

'  "  We  are  made  brothers,"  he  declares,  "  by  those  very  questions  of  money 
which  with  you  set  brother  against  brother.  We  are  of  one  heart  and  soul ; 
that  is  why  we  are  so  ready  to  share  our  goods  one  with  another.  We 
have  everything  in  common,  except  our  women."     {Apol.  39.) 

*  "  Pliires  efficimur  qiioties  m£ti7nur  a  vobis ;  semen  est  sanguis  Chris- 
Hanonan"  {ApoL  50.)  The  ed.  164 1  quotes  St.  Jerome:  ''^  Est  sanguis 
martyruvi  seviinariinn  Ecclesiarnin.'" 

'  Dc  Carne  Chiisti. 


i64  'TWIXT   SAND   AND   SEA 

at  the  service  of  the  Church,  even  after  his  own  lapse 
into  the  schism  of  Montanus. 

Whatever  his  subject,  he  was  always  vehement, 
always  in  extremes,  often  powerful.  Sometimes  he 
descended  to  personalities.  In  his  answer  to  a  painter, 
Hermogenes,  who  had  ventured  to  write  a  pamphlet 
in  defence  of  Gnosticism,  "  If  your  pictures,"  he  says, 
"  are  like  your  book,  you  are  the  sorriest  painter  that 
ever  lived." 

Later  on  the  Church  itself  came  in  for  its  share 
of  castigation.  How  far  the  assault  was  deserved,  or 
what  deduction  we  must  make  for  a  constitutional 
tendency  to  exaggeration,  it  is  difficult  to  say.  A  few 
quotations  may  be  given  :  they  have  not  altogether 
lost  their  point  even  now. 

Women  on  the  way  they  do  their  hair  :  "  Some  of 
you  dye  your  hair  with  saffron.  I  suppose  you  are 
ashamed  of  your  race,  and  want  to  be  mistaken  for 
Germans  or  Gauls,  and  change  your  hair  in  consequence. 
It  is  bad  to  think  a  thing  beautiful  when  it  is  only 
dirty  ...  if  you  do  not  blush  for  the  size  of  your 
headgear,  blush  for  its  filth.  Do  not  take  the  spoils 
of  another  head,  perhaps  filthy,  perhaps  guilty  and 
destined  for  hell,  to  deck  the  sacred  head  of  a  Christian 
woman."  ^ 

Christians  who  escape  persecution  by  flight  or 
payment :  "  I  do  not  know  whether  to  weep  or  blush 
when  I  see  on  the  police  lists,  among  publicans,  pick-| 
pockets,  thieves,  gamblers,  and  pimps,  the  fines  paidj 
by  Christians.  I  suppose  that  the  Apostles  organisedi 
the  episcopate  provisionally,  in  order  that  the  bishops 
might  enjoy  the  revenues  of  their  sees  in  safety,  under 
pretence  of  ruling  them."  As  to  the  poor  laity :  "  Their 
guides  themselves — deacons,  priests,  and  bishops — are 

^  De  Cullu,  ii.  5-7. 


LACHRYM^  ECCLESI^  165 

in  full  flight ;  now  the  people  know  what  is  meant  by 
'flee  from  one  city  to  another.'  When  the  oflicers 
desert,  who  among  the  crowd  of  soldiers  will  dare  advise 
others  to  keep  their  ranks  ?  "  As  to  these  officers : 
"  Doubtless  they  are  packing  their  boxes,  to  be  ready 
to  fly  *  from  city  to  city  *  ;  that  is  the  only  text  they 
remember  well ;  .  .  .  their  pastors  !  I  know  them  ; 
lions  in  peace,  stags  in  war."  ^ 

He  deals  with  equal  faithfulness  with  the  Pope. 
"  Whence  did  you  receive  the  rights  you  usurp  for 
your  Church  ?  Do  you  pretend  to  believe  that  you 
have  inherited  the  power  of  binding  and  loosing — that 
is  to  say,  you  and  the  Church  which  traces  up  to  Peter  ? 
Who  are  you  who  destroy  and  alter  the  manifest 
intention  of  our  Lord,  who  gave  this  power  to  Peter 
personally  !  How  does  all  this  apply  to  the  Church, 
at  any  rate  to  yours,  O  man  of  the  flesh  ?  "  ^ 

To  attend  the  games  was  to  go  "  de  ccelo  in  ccenum/' 
"  from  the  sky  to  the  sty." 

For  the  benefit  of  theatre-goers,  he  relates  how  a 
woman  once  came  home  from  the  theatre  possessed 
of  a  devil ;  and  how  the  evil  spirit,  when  cast  out, 
complained  bitterly,  protesting  that  he  had  every 
right  to  her,  as  he  had  found  her  trespassing  on  his 
domain.     "  In  meo  earn  inveni."  ^ 

Under  Hilarion,  a.d.  202-203,  persecution  broke  out 
again.  The  occasion  seems  to  have  been  the  refusal 
of  a  Christian  soldier  to  accept  the  laurel  crown 
{donativum)  presented  by  Severus  and  Caracalla ;  * 
but  it  took  a  new  form — the  refusal  to  Christian  dead 
of  their  own  proper  place  of  burial :  ''  Arece  non  sint," 
"  No  cemeteries."  Severus  had  given  leave  to  all 
classes  to  form  burial  clubs,  and  the  Christians  took 

*  De  Fuga,  11-13.  '  De  Pudic,  21. 

'  De  Sped.  *  De  Corona. 


i66  'TWIXT-  SAND  AND  SEA 

advantage  of  tliis  permission  to  register  themselves  as 
an  association  of  this  kind,  and  so  bring  themselves 
and  their  places  of  meeting  under  the  protection  of 
the  law,  and  become  possessed  of  a  cemetery  of  their 
own.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  Christians  were  using 
the  law  for  a  purpose  for  which  it  was  never  intended  ; 
but  it  was  equally  true  that  their  persecutors  stretched 
the  law  also  ;  for  the  edict  of  Severus  did  not  condemn 
a  man  for  being  a  Jew  or  a  Christian,  but  only  for 
becoming  one — it  was  intended  to  prevent  prosely- 
tising/ "  JudcBOS  fieri''  (not  esse)  '^  sub  gravi  poena 
vetuit.  Idem  etiam  de  Christianis  sanxit."  Under  laws 
so  ill-defined  it  is  clear  that  the  position  of  the  Christians 
depended  largely  upon  the  character  and  disposition 
of  the  Governor.  Under  Saturninus  and  Hilarion  there 
was  persecution.  "  How  often,"  says  TertulHan,  "  has 
an  angry  crowd,  on  its  own  initiative,  stoned  or  burnt 
us.  Nay,  they  will  not  spare  even  our  dead ;  they  drag 
the  corpses  from  the  grave  where  they  rest  ;  already 
past  recognition,  already  corrupted,  they  carry  them 
away  and  tear  them  in  pieces."  '"  Under  Julius  Aspar 
there  was  peace  for  some  five  or  six  years  ;  on  the 
death  of  Severus,  trouble  broke  out  again. 

Considering  the  dangerous  days  in  which  Tertullian 
lived,  his  uncompromising  partisanship,  and  the  fero- 
cious invective  of  which  he  was  a  master  and  which 
he  used  so  freely,  it  is  amazing  that  he  never  seems 
to  have  suffered  from  persecution  himself.  Yet  so  it 
was,  and  the  fact  cannot  but  give  us  pause  as  we  try 
to  form  an  opinion  concerning  the  real  character  and 
stringency  of  the  persecutions  themselves.  Everything 
by  turns,  and  nothing  long,  always  in  extremes  in  his 

*  Proselytising  was  the  charge  brought  against  Perpetua  and  the  other 
martyrs  of  Thuburbo. 

*  Apo/.  39. 


LACHRYMiE   ECCLESIiE  167 

ppinions,  and  always  eager  to  express  them,  Tertullian 
had  been  a  heathen  for  some  thirty  years,  and  then 
for  nine  years  a  Churchman,  then  a  Montanist,  and 
last  of  all,  when  this  was  not  austere  enough  to  satisfy 
him,  a  "  Tertullianist  "  pure  and  simple.  Yet  he  lived 
unharmed,  and  at  last  died  quietly  in  his  bed,  we  know 
not  how,  or  when,  or  where. 

Some  five  or  six  years  after  his  death,  about  the 
year  a.d.  220,  was  born  a  disciple  who  was  to  prove 
greater  than  his  master,  Thascius  Cyprianus.  He 
was  a  man  of  rank,  position,  and  wealth.  His  home 
was  at  La  Marsa,  the  pleasant  valley  which  leads 
down  to  the  sea  between  the  Beacon  Hill  of  Cape  Car- 
thage and  the  heights  of  Djebel  Khaoui  and  Kamart. 
Then,  as  now,  it  was  the  pleasantest  and  most  fashion- 
able suburb  of  Carthage.  Large-minded,  generous 
in  money  matters,  eloquent,  able,  popular,  and 
ambitious,  he  lived  for  five  and  twenty  years  the 
ordinary  life  of  a  Roman  gentleman.  Then  in  the 
year  a.d.  245  he  w^as  converted  to  Christianity  by 
an  old  priest,  Caecilianus,  and  baptized  by  the  name  of 
Csecilius,  after  the  man  to  whom  he  owed  his  con- 
version. He  at  once  sold  his  estates  and  villa  at  La 
Marsa  and  gave  the  money  to  the  poor.  His  friends 
bought  in  the  villa,  but  he  was  with  difficulty  re- 
strained from  selling  it  again.  It  was  to  this  villa 
that  he  was  confined  just  before  his  martyrdom. 
Four  years  later,  in  a.d.  249,  the  unanimous  voice  of 
the  people,  never  more  truly  than  on  that  day  the 
voice  of  God,  called  him,  sorely  against  his  will,  to 
the  difficult,  dangerous,  and  thankless  post  of  Arch- 
bishop of  Carthage  and  Pope  of  the  African  Church. 

These  years  had  been  a  period  of  more  than  ordinary 
unrest  in  the  Roman  Empire,  and  of  a  revolution  of 
which  Africa  had  been  the  principal  scene.     Driven 


i68  'TWIXT  SAND  AND  SEA 

to  that  revolt  which  is  so  often  the  daughter  of  despair, 
by  the  monstrous  extortions  and  cruelties  of  Maximin, 
who  had  seized  the  throne  on  the  murder  of  Alexander 
Severus,  the  young  nobles  of  Thysdrus  forced  upon 
the  Proconsul  Gordianus  and  his  son  the  dangerous 
glory  of  the  purple.  At  Rome  the  appointment  was 
received  with  acclamation,  for  the  Gordiani  were 
men  of  high  rank,  enormous  wealth,  and  real  nobility 
of  character.  It  would  have  been  well  for  them  if 
they  had  been  men  of  action  as  well,  but  this,  un- 
fortunately, they  were  not.  While  they  were  awaiting 
at  Carthage  the  ratification  of  their  election  by  the 
Senate,  Capellianus,  the  Legate  of  Numidia  and 
commander  of  the  army,  advanced  against  them  at 
the  head  of  the  Third  Legion,  defeated  and  killed  the 
younger  Gordianus,  and  took  and  sacked  the  city. 
The  elder  Gordianus  committed  suicide,  after  a  reign 
of  thirty-six  days. 

On  the  accession  of  Gordianus  IIL,  the  grandson 
of  the  elder  and  nephew  of  the  younger  Gordianus, 
after  the  murder  of  Maximin  in  a.d.  238,  Capellianus 
was  arrested,  and,  no  doubt,  executed,  and  the  famous 
Legion  disbanded ;  the  soldiers  were  sent  to  serve 
in  other  legions  in  Rhoetia,  and  their  place  in  Africa 
was  taken  by  detachments  of  the  Rhone  Legion, 
which  was  stationed  in  Mauretania.  This,  however, 
did  not  last  for  very  long.  The  men  served  their 
new  general.  Valerian,  so  faithfully,  that  when,  in 
A.D.  253,  he  marched  on  Italy  and  possessed  himself 
of  the  throne,  he  rewarded  their  fidelity  by  recon- 
stituting the  Legion  and  sending  it  back  to  its  old 
quarters  in  Africa. 

For  the  Church  these  years  of  fierce  civil  strife 
had  been  a  time  of  peace,  of  expansion,  of  organisation, 
and  generally  of  growth  and  prosperity.     But  with 


LACHRYM.^  ECCLESI^  169 

these  had  come,  perhaps  inevitably,  a  widespread  re- 
laxation of  discipline ;  and  the  disorders  and  scandals 
within  the  Church,  which  had  driven  TertuUian  into 
schism,  had  grown  rank  and  monstrous.  Cyprian 
himself  has  described  what  he  found  and  had  to  deal 
with  in  words  which  might  have  been  written  by 
TertuUian :  "  Amongst  the  laity,  unsatiable  cupidity 
and  love  of  money  ;  no  piety  amongst  the  priests  ; 
no  faith  amongst  the  ministers  ;  no  compassion  in 
almsgiving ;  no  discipline  in  morals ;  rash  oaths 
followed  by  frequent  perjury ;  contempt  for  the 
clergy ;  poisonous  scandals ;  divisions  and  bitter 
hatred.  Bishops  desert  their  sees  to  make  money  in 
trade,  appropriate  church  funds,  and  practise  usury. 
This  is  what  we  see."  ^  And  on  a  Church  so  ill- 
prepared  to  face  it,  the  storm  of  persecution  broke. 

In  A.D.  249  Decius  became  Emperor,  and  in  the 
following  year  he  promulgated  an  edict  requiring 
all  Christians  formally  to  recant  within  a  certain 
time.  Many  stood  firm ;  the  names  or  office  of  some 
of  these  are  known  ;  a  young  reader  endured  torture 
and  exile;  a  priest,  Numidicus,  Paulus,  Mappalicus, 
Celerinus,  and  others  sealed  their  faith  with  their 
blood  ;  but  the  falling  away  was  general.  Day  after 
day,  Byrsa  was  besieged  by  crowds  of  Christians 
thronging  to  make  their  submission  before  the  time 
of  grace  expired. 

Cyprian  fled  and  remained  in  hiding  for  sixteen 
months,  until  the  worst  was  over.  Doubtless  he  was 
right — his  life  was  of  more  value  to  the  Church  than 
his  death."  Doubtless  also,  to  a  man  of  his  proud 
nature  and  dauntless  courage,  to  live  under  the  stigma 
of  cowardice  was  far  harder  than  to  face  the  danger, 
and,   if   necessary,    to    die.     During   his    absence,    a 

^  De  Lapsis,  6.  ^2  Sam.  xviii.  3. 


I/O  'TWIXT  SAND  AND  SEA 

violent  opposition  to  his  return  sprang  up  under  a 
certain  Felicissimus ;  and  although  the  joy  with 
which  he  was  welcomed  back,  the  prompt  excommuni- 
cation of  those  who  had  turned  against  him,  and  his 
own  unimpaired  authority  showed  that,  in  his  case, 
the  Church  at  large  approved  of  the  course  which  he 
had  adopted,  the  question  was  not  settled,  but  was 
destined  to  arise  again  and  to  form  one  of  the  chief 
causes  of  the  schism  of  Donatus.  A  terrible  pestilence 
which  broke  out  soon  after,  in  which  he  showed  him- 
self a  very  Carlo  Borromeo  in  his  generosity,  courage, 
and  loving  care  of  the  sufferers,  whether  Christian  or 
not,  made  his  position  unassailable. 

In  a  letter  written  at  that  terrible  time,  he  exhorts 
his  flock  to  courage,  faith,  and  resignation,  and  bids 
them  not  to  weep  too  sorely  over  those  who  die  : 
"  We  have  not  lost  them ;  they  have  only  gone  before. 
Like  travellers  we  may  regret  their  departure,  but 
not  lament  over  them.  Put  on  no  mourning  here 
for  those  who,  on  high,  are  clothed  in  white.  There, 
on  high,  await  us  our  parents,  our  brothers,  our 
children,  who  in  serried  ranks  lament  our  absence  ; 
sure  of  their  own  salvation,  they  are  only  anxious 
about  ours.  What  joy  for  them  to  see  us  again  and 
embrace  us  !  There  you  will  see  the  glorious  company 
{chorus)  of  the  Apostles,  the  army  of  prophets,  the 
innumerable  throngs  of  crowned  martyrs,  virgins  who 
have  overcome  the  temptations  of  the  flesh  and  of  the 
body,  the  charitable  who  have  exchanged  the  good 
things  of  this  world  for  the  treasures  of  heaven."  ^ 

The  next  few  years  were  spent  in  vigorous  reforms 
of  the  Church  throughout  all  Africa.  In  contradiction 
to  the  more  moderate,  and  wiser,  views  of  the  Church 
of  Rome,  baptism  administered  by  heretics  was  held 

^  De  Mart. 


LACHRYM.E   ECCLESIiE  171 

to  be  invalid  ;  the  authority  of  the  bishops  was  every- 
where strengthened,  and  discipHne  enforced,  though 
a  more  tolerant  and  generous  indulgence  was  granted 
to  penitent  renegades.  Throughout  the  world  Cyprian 
was  recognised  as  the  greatest  Churchman  of  his  day. 
Reference  has  already  been  made  to  the  appeal  to  his 
decision  made  by  the  Church  of  Rome  ;  in  like  manner 
the  Church  of  Spain  invoked  his  authority  against 
an  endeavour  of  the  same  Church  of  Rome  to  reinstate 
two  bishops  who  had  been  deposed  ;  while  from  Gaul 
and  from  the  East  men  turned  to  him  for  guidance. 
Truly  on  him,  more  than  on  any  man,  came  the  care 
of  all  the  Churches. 

Then  came  the  end.  The  legions  in  Gaul  had 
made  Valerian  Emperor  (a.d.  253),  a  man  whom  all 
thought  worthy  of  reigning  until  he  reigned — ''  vir 
omnium  consensu  capax  imperii  nisi  imper asset  "  ^ — as 
Tacitus  says  of  Galba.  In  August  a.d.  257,  he  issued 
a  first  edict  of  persecution,  closing  the  cemeteries, 
forbidding  all  assemblages  of  Christians,  and  order- 
ing all  to  join  in  the  official  worship.  On  August  30 
the  Proconsul,  Paternus,  summoned  Cyprian  before 
him,  and  on  his  refusal  to  conform,  banished  him  to 
Curubis  (Kourba)  across  the  Gulf,  on  the  east  coast 
of  Cape  Bon.  There  he  remained  for  nearly  a  year. 
It  was  at  Curubis  in  the  autumn  of  that  year  that 
he  composed  his  last  treatise,  an  exhortation  to 
1 1  martyrdom. 

Meanwhile  the  persecution  waxed  fiercer.     Bishops 

i  and  clergy,  men,  women,  and  children,  were  condemned 

I  \  to  labour  in  the  mines  at  Signs,  near  Cirta.     Unable  to 

i  visit  them,  Cyprian  sent  them  what   help  he  could 

by  the  hand  of  a  sub-deacon,  Herranianus,  and  three 

acolytes,   Lucanus,    Maximus,    and    Amantius ;    they 

^  Hist.  i.  49. 


172  'TWIXT  SAND  AND  SEA 

returned,  bringing  \\dth  them  a  touching  letter  of 
gratitude  (Ep.  78),  which  has  been  preserved. 

In  July  of  the  following  year,  a.d.  258,  from  the 
far  east  where  he  was  fighting,  Valerian  issued  another 
edict  more  terrible  still,  aimed  directly  at  the  heads  of 
the  Church.  To  this  persecution  belong  the  massacres 
at  Utica,  known  as  the  Massa  Candida,  the  martyr- 
dom of  Theogones,  Bishop  of  Hippo,  of  Jacobus  and 
Marianus  at  Cirta,  of  Lucius,  Montanus,  Julianus,  Vic- 
torinus,  Flavianus,  and  others  at  Carthage.^ 

At  last  the  Proconsul,  Galerius  Flavianus,  was 
compelled  to  take  action  against  Cyprian  himself. 
He  had  already  recalled  him  from  Curubis  and  confined 
him  to  his  villa  at  La  Marsa,  in  the  earnest  hope,  we 
cannot  help  thinking,  that  he  would  seize  the  oppor- 
tunity thus  offered  him  and  escape.  This  time, 
however,  the  path  of  duty  was  clear,  and  Cyprian 
refused  to  fly.  "  A  bishop,"  he  said,  "  must  confess 
his  Lord  among  his  flock."  On  September  13  he 
was  brought  to  the  Villa  of  Sextus  (ad  Sexti)  at  La 
Marsa,  near  the  site  of  the  present  British  Consulate, 
to  which  the  Proconsul  had  retired  on  account  of  ill- 
ness. Flavianus  was,  however,  too  unwell  to  conduct 
the  trial  on  that  day,  and  he  was  remanded.  He 
passed  the  night  with  his  friends  in  the  quarters  of 
the  chief  officer  who  had  charge  of  him,  in  or  near 
the  Proconsular  Palace  on  Byrsa.  In  the  morning 
he  walked  back  to  the  Ager  Sexti,  a  distance  of  about 
two  miles,  and  was  taken  to  a  large  hall,  called  the 
Atrium  Sauciolum,  where  the  trial  took  place.  The 
officer  in  charge,  seeing  that  his  robes  were  wet  with 
perspiration,  offered  him  others.  "  Never  mind," 
rephed  the  Bishop,  "  all  will  be  set  right  to-day." 

^  An  inscription  (C.I.L.  7924)  found  on  a  rock  at  the  entrance  of  the 
gorge  of  the  Rummel  at  Constantine,  gives  the  names  of  twelve  who  were 
martyred  there  in  A.u.  259. 


LACHRYM^   ECCLESI.E  173 

The  Proconsul  was  surrounded  by  his  guard  of 
the  famous  Third  Legion.  The  trial  was  short  and 
dignified,  worthy  of  two  men  who  respected  and, 
perhaps,  knew  and  liked  one  another. 

"  Are  you  Thascius  Cyprianus  ?  " — "  I  am." 

"  Pope  of  these  impious  men  ?  " — "  I  am." 

"  The  holy  Emperors  order  you  to  sacrifice." — 
"  I  will  not  sacrifice." 

**  Be  on  your  guard."  ("  Consule  tibi.") — "  Do  what 
you  are  commanded  to  do.  In  so  clear  a  case  there  is 
no  room  for  hesitation." 

The  Proconsul  then  pronounced  sentence  of  death. 
Cyprian  replied,  "  Thanks  be  to  God." 

He  was  led  out  to  a  spot  not  far  from  the  house, 
evidently  frequently  used  for  executions,  for  the 
people  knew  the  spot  and  had  assembled  in  multi- 
tudes to  see  the  death  of  the  friend  and  benefactor 
of  all,  the  foremost  citizen  of  Carthage.  Arrived  at 
the  place,  he  held  the  handkerchief  to  his  eyes,  and 
as  it  was  being  tied,  he  bade  his  friends,  in  his  lordly 
way,  give  twenty-five  pieces  of  gold  (£15)  to  the 
executioner.  Utterly  overcome,  perhaps  by  the  vast 
concourse  of  people,  perhaps  by  the  generosity  and 
dignity  of  the  great  man  he  was  called  upon  to  kill, 
the  soldier  was  unable  to  hold  the  sword  ;  the  centurion 
took  it  from  his  trembling  hand  and  struck  the  blow.^ 

So  died  Cyprian.  He  was  thirty-eight  years  old ; 
he  had  been  a  Christian  for  fourteen  years,  and  a 
bishop  for  nine. 

All  day  his  body  lay  where  he  had  died.  In  the 
evening  the  Christians  were  allowed  to  remove  it,  and 
with  great  pomp  and  many  torches  bore  it  to  the  ceme- 
tery of  Macrobius  Candidianus  (''  ad  areas  Macrohii"), 

*  Archbishop  Benson,  in  his  Life  of  Cyprian,  was  the  first  to  notice  this 
incident. 


174  'TWIXT   SAND   AND   SEA 

near  the  huge  cisterns  of  Malga  [juxta  piscinas),  where 
it  was  buried.  The  exact  spot  is  unknown,  but  a 
cross  has  been  erected  on  the  httle  mound  known 
as  the  Koudiat  Sousou,  near  the  cisterns,  in  memory 
of  the  greatest  of  all  North  African  Churchmen. 

Nothing  can  justify  persecution  but  success.     It 
must    be    pressed    home,   relentlessly    and    pitilessly, 
until  its  object  is  attained  in  the  destruction  of  the 
persecuted    cause,    or    it    is    worse    than    a    failure. 
Even   this   justification,    poor   as   it   is,    the   Roman 
persecution  of  the  Church  lacked.     It  was  intermit- 
tent, often  half-hearted  ;    and,  though  the  sufferings 
of  the  Christians  were  occasionally  very  terrible,  the 
only  possible  object  of  the  persecutor,  the  stamping 
out  of  the  faith,  was  never  even   approached.     The 
solvent  which  finally  ruined  the  glorious  Church  of 
Africa  came  not  from  without,  but  from  within.     It 
was  caused,  not  by  any  assault  of  the  heathen,  not 
even   by   any  heresy   against  the  faith,   but  merely 
by  schism,  a  sin  against  the  unity  and  discipline  of 
the  Church.     A  story  is  told  of  a  Free  Kirk  missionary 
who,  when  asked  what  doctrine  of  Christianity  he  found 
it  hardest  to  explain  to  his  converts,  replied  that  he 
could  not  make  them  see  the  necessity  for  the  Dis- 
ruption ;   and  it  is   difficult  indeed   for  us,  amongst 
whom  division  has  ceased  to  be  considered  a  sin  or 
even  an  evil  to  be  avoided,  to  understand  the  fury 
of  the  passions  aroused  by  the  terrible  internecine 
struggle  between  the  Church  and  the  Donatists,  or 
the   savagery   with   which   it   was   fought   out.     Yet 
this  war  ended  in  the  ruin  of  Christianity,  and  con- 
tributed more  than  an^'^thing  to  destroy  the  Roman 
Empire  in  Africa.     The  African  Church,  like  that  of 
Rome,  was  not  noted  for  intellectual  subtlety  ;    and 
its  stability  was  never  shaken  by  any  great  dispute 


LACHRYM.E  ECCLESI.E  175 

about  the  foundations  of  the  faith ;  but,  unHke 
Rome,  its  machinery  had  not  the  sanctions  of  the 
old  Empire.  The  old  Imperial  titles  and  habits  of 
government,  and  the  corresponding  instinct  of  obedi- 
ence, which  made  the  position  of  the  Pope  of  Rome 
seem  natural,  and  assured  his  authority  over  his 
flock,  were  powerless  across  the  mare  scBvum  which 
separated  Italy  from  Africa. 

The  wild,  untamable  Berber  nature,  with  its 
incapacity  for  sustained  unity  of  action,  its  devouring 
passion  for  freedom,  and  its  love  of  extremes,  rendered 
the  problems  which  faced  Cyprian  and  those  who 
came  after  him  very  different  from  those  which  had 
to  be  dealt  with  elsewhere.  The  righteous  anger  of 
Tertullian  at  the  evils  which  he  saw  in  the  Church 
drove  him  first  into  the  schism  of  Montanus,  and  then 
into  practical  isolation  ;  and  this  was  only  the  begin- 
ning of  that  spirit  of  uncompromising  and  inflexible 
intolerance  which  rent  the  Church  asunder.  A  man 
who  will  not  forgive  must  himself  need  no  forgiveness, 
and  this  certainly  was  not  the  case  with  those  whom 
we  know  as  Donatists,  men  who  had  only  reached 
the  familiar  level  of  those  who  have  religion  enough 
to  make  them  hate,  but  not  enough  to  make  them 
love  one  another. 

The  persecutions,  as  has  been  said,  were  fierce 
but  intermittent.  Their  ferocity  drove  many  of  the 
more  timid  Christians  into  compliance  with  the  re- 
quirements of  the  law,  if  not  into  apostasy.  Many 
(sacrijicati)  yielded  altogether  and  burned  incense 
to  Caesar,  out  of  sheer,  and  surely  not  unpardonable, 
terror ;  others  {lihellatici)  purchased  from  the  autho- 
rities false  certificates  (libella)  declaring  that  they  had 
thus  complied  ;  others  fled.  And  then  peace  returned, 
and  all  these  had  to  be  dealt  with.     How  were  they 


176  'TWIXT  SAND   AND   SEA 

to  be  treated  by  those  who  had  dared  and  faced  the 
storm  unshaken  ?  Were  they  to  remain  for  ever 
excommunicate  ?  or  were  they  to  be  received  back, 
and,  if  so,  on  what  terms  ? 

Then,  as  there  was  cowardice  on  the  one  side, 
there  was  reckless  bravado  on  the  other.  As  there 
were  those  who  gave  way,  so  there  were  others  who 
presented  themselves,  unbidden,  before  the  tribunals, 
denounced  themselves  as  Christians,  and  demanded 
martyrdom.  When  inquisition  was  being  made  for  the 
Holy  Books,  as  there  were  those  (tradiiores)  who  gave 
them  up,  there  were  those  also  who  declared  falsely 
that  they  possessed,  but  would  not  surrender,  them. 

Besides  these  fanatics,  who  in  the  piquant  words 
of  Sulpicius  Severus,  "  coveted  martyrdom  as  eagerly 
as  men  now  covet  a  bishopric,"  we  are  told  that  the 
gaols  were  thronged  with  others,  spendthrifts  and 
profligates,  bankrupt  in  fortune  and  character,  who, 
to  escape  a  life  of  disgrace  or  poverty,  were  willing 
to  purchase  heaven  at  the  price  of  martyrdom,  or 
the  glory  of  confessorship  at  the  cost  of  a  short  im- 
prisonment, rendered  easy  by  the  alms  of  the  faithful. 
If  such  met  with  the  death  they  coveted,  were  they 
to  be  enrolled  in  the  noble  army  of  martyrs  ?  If 
they  escaped,  were  they  to  be  admitted  into  the 
glorious  company  of  confessors  ? 

Cyprian  had  dealt  with  these  cases  with  his  usual 
sanctified  common  sense,  and  so  long  as  he  lived, 
his  enormous  authority  secured  acquiescence  with 
his  decisions,  and  the  unity  of  the  Church,  though 
threatened  by  Felicissimus  and  others,  was  not 
destroyed.  So  matters  remained  during  the  years 
of  comparative  peace  which  elapsed  between  the 
death  of  the  great  Archbishop  and  the  persecution 
ordered  by  Diocletian,  a.d.  293. 


LACHRYM^   ECCLESIiE  177 

The  Bishop  of  Carthage,  during  the  persecutions  of 
Diocletian,  and  until  the  victory  of  Constantine  at  the 
Milvian  Bridge,  A.D.  312,  gave  peace  to  the  Church,  was 
Mensurinus.  When  commanded  to  surrender  the  Holy 
Books,  he  and  his  Archdeacon  Csecilian  had  evaded 
the  danger  and  the  difficulty,  by  hiding  the  books 
and  surrendering  a  number  of  heretical  writings  which 
they  had  collected  for  the  purpose.  On  his  death 
Caecilian  was  elected  Bishop  in  his  place  with  rather 
indecent    haste.     A    number    of    Numidian    bishops, 

i  who  came  to  oppose  the  election,  but  arrived  too 
late,  complained  bitterly  that  the  election  had  been 
hurried  on  in  order  to  exclude  their  votes.     Seizing 

'  upon  the  accusation  of  being  a  traditor,  brought, 
falsely,  as   it   turned   out,  against   Felix,   Bishop   of 

i  Aptonga,  who  had  consecrated  Caecilian,  they  declared 
the  election  to  be  void,  and  proceeded  to  elect  one  of 
their  own  number,  Majorinus,  in  his  place.  Thus 
began   the  first   formal   and   open   schism   that   had 

i  befallen  the  Christian  Church. 

After  a  careful  and  patient  inquiry  by  the  Emperor, 
Felix  was  acquitted,  and  the  election  and  consecration 

!  of  Caecilian  were  pronounced  valid. 

I       In  A.D.   315   Majorinus  died,   and  his  place  was 

^  taken  by  Donatus,  from  whom  ^  the  whole  movement 
took  its  name.  He  was  a  man  of  great  learning  and 
'  abihty,  eloquent  and  earnest,  but  hard,  proud,  unloving, 
and  overbearing.  Now  also  the  Donatists,  in  their 
struggle  against  the  authority  of  the  Emperor,  began 
I  to  make  common  cause  with  the  Circumcelliones,^  who 
were  destined  from  thenceforth  to  be  both  the  strength 
and  the  scandal  of  the  party. 

The  origin  of  this  wild  sect  of  fanatics  is  unknown. 

Or  perhaps  another  Donatus,  Bishop  of  Casas  Nigras,  in  Numidia. 
■Or  "  Agonistici,''  as  they  preferred  to  call  themselves. 

M 


178  'TWIXT   SAND  AND   SEA 

They  are  supposed  to  have  got  their  name  from  their 
habit  of  wandering  from  house  to  house  begging, 
like  the  Marabouts  of  to-day.  Their  distinguishing 
marks  were  their  wild  extravagances,  and  their  con- 
tempt for  Hfe — their  own  or  anybody  else's.  In  the 
distant  villages  of  Numidia  and  Mauretania,  amongst 
a  savage,  half-nomad  race,  never  really  subdued  to 
Rome,  and  only  half  converted  to  Christianity,  their 
doctrines  were  received  with  enthusiasm.  Driven 
from  their  homes  by  the  officers  of  justice,  the  wild 
peasantry  dropped  easily  and  gladly  back  into  a  nomad 
life  of  idleness  and  plunder.  Carrying  no  swords, 
for  these  they  held  to  be  forbidden  by  our  Lord, 
but  armed  \\dth  heavy  clubs  which  they  called 
Israelites y  they  haunted  the  fringe  of  the  desert  in  : 
marauding  gangs  which  were  the  terror  of  the  open 
country.  As  with  David  in  Adullam,  "Every  one 
that  was  in  distress,  and  every  one  that  was  in  debt, 
and  every  one  that  was  discontented  gathered  them- 
selves unto  "  ^  them.  Giving  and  receiving  no  quarter,  || 
they  were  not  afraid  to  meet  even  the  Imperial  troops  ' 
in  open  battle.  Their  contempt  for  law  and  order 
was  only  equalled  by  their  scorn  and  hatred  of  their 
brother  Christians.  Every  convert  was  rebaptized, 
after  doing  open  penance.  If  a  church  fell  into  their 
hands,  the  walls  were  scraped,  the  wooden  Altar 
burnt,  the  holy  vessels  melted,  and  the  consecrated 
elements  given  to  the  dogs. 

Tired  out  wdth  their  excesses,  and  despairing  of 
gaining  peace  by  force,  Constantine  exhorted  the 
Proconsul  Ursacius  to  try  to  come  to  terms  with 
them,  but  their  only  reply  was  that  they  would  have 
nothing  to  do  with  ''  his  fool  of  a  Bishop."  In  a.d.  330 
Donatus  held  a  synod  at  which  two  hundred  and 

^  I  Sam.  xxii.  2. 


LACHRYM.E   ECCLESI^  179 

seventy  bishops  were  present.  Soon  his  followers,  re- 
presenting as  they  did  the  cause  of  opposition  to  the 
hated  authority  of  Rome,  became  the  popular  party 
throughout  North  Africa. 

j        In  truth  the  support  of  Constantine  was  very  far 

I  from  being  an  unmixed  blessing  to  the  Church,  for  it 
robbed  her  largely  of  the  popular  support  which  had 
hitherto  enabled  her  to  withstand  the  persecutions 
of  the  Emperors  and  the  encroachments  of  the  Popes 
of  Rome.   Now  the  position  of  the  Church,  identified  in 

i  men's  minds  with  the  cause  of  an  unpopular  dynasty, 
was  not  unlike  that  of  the  Church  of  England  at  the 
Rebellion. 

Efforts  for  peace  were  made  in  vain  by  Constans 

i  and  Gregorius  ;  at  last  the  excesses  of  the  Circum- 
celHones  became  so  monstrous  that  Donatus  himself 
was  obHged  to  call  in  the  secular  arm  to  moderate 
them. 

I  It  is  necessary  to  have  seen  the  self-inflicted 
tortures  of  the  Aissaouas — to  have  seen  men  on  their 
knees,  fawning  and  begging  like  dogs  to  be  given  a 
living  scorpion  to  eat,  or  a  piece  of  glass  to  crunch  or 
nails  to  swallow — to  realise  or  beheve  what  African 
'nature  is  capable  of  under  the  stress  of  religious  ex- 
citement. Multitudes  invaded  the  heathen  temples 
at  the  hour  of  worship  demanding  martyrdom ; 
jlaw  courts  were  thronged  and  judges  frightened  into 
ordering  them  to  execution  ;  the  day  and  hour  were 
'advertised  when  they  would  throw  themselves  over 
precipices  to  certain  death  ;  travellers  were  stopped 
and  threatened  with  instant  death  if  they  refused  to 
kill  the  suppUants  at  their  feet.  A  story  is  told  of  a 
young  man  who,  thus  threatened,  consented  to  grant 
their  request  on  condition  they  allowed  themselves 
to  be  bound  first,  for  fear  they  should  change  their 


i8o  'TWIXT  SAND  AND   SEA 

mind  ;  they  consented,  whereupon  he  bound  them 
securely  and  went  his  way,  leaving  them  where  they 
were.  At  last  the  Proconsul,  Macarius,  interfered,  put 
the  disorders  down  with  an  iron  hand,  and  Donatus 
died  in  exile.  Then  came  the  reign  of  Juhan  the 
Apostate  (a.d.  361),  and  his  endeavour  to  destroy  the 
adverse  power  of  the  Church  by  a  poHcy  of  universal 
toleration — ''  divide  et  impera."  All  exiled  bishops  were 
recalled,  and  equal  rights  were  given  to  all.  However, 
in  A.D.  363,  the  Galilaean  conquered,  and  Julian  died 
before  his  policy  had  had  time  to  bear  permanent 
fruit,  either  for  good  or  evil ;  all  he  had  done  was  to 
revive  and  increase  the  wild  disorder  which  it  had  been, 
ostensibly  at  least,  his  object  to  allay. 

Meanwhile  the  links  which  bound  Africa  to  Rome 
were  wearing  very  thin.     Driven  to  despair  by  the 
enormities  of  the  Roman  Governor,  Romanus,  Firmus 
(a.d.  366),  one  of  the  richest  and  most  powerful  of  the 
Berber  princes,  raised  a  revolt  in  the  west,  which  it  , 
needed    the    presence    of    Theodosius    himself,    fresh 
from  his  triumphs  in  Britain,  to  quell ;    a  service  to 
the  Empire  which  was  repaid  by  his  judicial  murder 
at  Carthage.     In  a.d.  386  the  chief  command  in  Africa 
was  entrusted  to  a  brother  of  Firmus,  Gildo,  a  truculent 
monster,  who   used    his   power  to   practically   assert 
his  own   independence.     With   this   object   he   made 
common  cause  with  the  Donatists  against  the  Church, 
and  entered  into  close  alliance  with  some  of  the  most  1 
savage  of  their  bishops,  such  as  Optatus  of  Thamugadi ; 
(Timgad).     In  the  struggle  between  the  Eastern  and 
Western  Empires,  he  threw  his  whole  influence  against  1 
Honorius  and  on  the  side  of  Arcadius,  Emperor  of 
Constantinople.     This    open    rebellion    could    not    bd 
allowed  to  pass  unpunished,  and  Stilicho,  who  was 
to  Honorius,  his  son-in-law,  very  much  what  Belisarius 


LACHRYM^  ECCLESI^  i8i 

was  afterwards  to  Justinian,  declared  war,  and  gave 

the  supreme  command  to  Mascazel,  another  brother 

jof  Firmus.     An  almost  bloodless  victory  ended  the 

revolt,   and   Gildo,    like    Firmus,    committed    suicide 

on  the  island  of  Tabarka  (Thabraka),  whither  he  had 

fled  for  refuge.    Mascazel  returned  in  triumph  to  Milan, 

to  give  an  account  of  his  success  to  Honorius.     He  was 

received  with  many  expressions  of  gratitude.     A  few 

days  later,  when  crossing  a  bridge  side  by  side  with 

StiHcho,  he  was  thrown  from  his  horse  into  the  water 

I  and  allowed  to  drown  (a.d.  398).     In  a.d.  405  Honorius 

'  issued  an  edict  against  the  Donatists,  which  bore  fruit 

.  at  Carthage  in  the  reconcihation  of  the  Church  and  the 

i  healing   of   a   long   and  wanton   schism.     Elsewhere, 

however,   as   at   Hippo,   where   the   division   was   so 

'  bitter  that  a  Donatist  baker  would  not  make  bread 

for  a  Churchman,  it  was  only  met  by  a  threat  on  the 

'part  of  the  Donatists  to  cross  over  into  Italy  and  join 

'Alaric  the  Visigoth  in  his  threatened  attack  on  Rome. 

Alarmed  at  such  a  prospect,  Honorius  withdrew  the 

edict,  and  summoned  a  council  of  Churchmen  and 

!  Donatists   at   Carthage,    to    discuss   the    matters    in 

dispute.    Seven  disputants  were  appointed  on   each 

'side,     the    most    prominent     amongst     them    being 

I  Augustine. 

I       It  is  strange  that  of  the  three  great  men  who  made 

I  the  Church  of  Africa  illustrious,  no  one  was  born  or 

brought   up   a  Christian.     Two  were  frankly  pagan, 

{and  the  third  a  Manichee.     For  our  present  purpose, 

I  it  is  enough  to  say  that  the  teaching  of  Manes  was  an 

attempt  to  graft  on  Christianity  the  Persian  doctrine 

of  the  eternity  of  Evil  as  well  as  of  Good,  each  being 

the  attribute  of  an  eternal  principle  or  God.    Although 

[under  the  teaching  of  Ambrose  of  Milan,  Augustine 

^escaped  from  this  heresy,  his  views  to  the  end  were 

f 


i82  'TWIXT  SAND  AND   SEA 

strongly  influenced  by  it.  Of  his  doctrines  of  pre- 
destination/ acquiesced  in  by  the  Church  when 
presented  under  the  aegis  of  the  saint,  but  repudiated 
when  they  were  revived  by  Jansenius  and  developed 
logically  by  Calvin,  we  need  say  nothing  ;  but  his 
views  as  to  the  inherent  evil  of  matter,  both  of  the 
world  and  of  the  body,  concern  us  because  they  led 
him  to  introduce,  and,  so  far  as  he  was  able,  to  develop, 
monasticism  in  Africa.  Ambrose  had  influenced  him 
profoundly  ;  his  teaching  had  made  him  a  Christian, 
and  the  splendour  of  his  ride  at  Milan  made  him 
through  life  a  model  to  his  young  convert.  Especially 
Augustine  had  seen  there  and  studied  at  first  hand  the 
practice  of  the  monastic  life,  which,  with  its  austerities 
and  its  implied  teaching  that  holiness  could  only  be 
sought  in  separation  from  an  evil  world  and  the  crush- 
ing of  the  appetites  of  the  body,  appealed  strongly,  not 
only  to  his  ardent  African  temperament,  but  also  to 
the  taint  of  the  old  Manichean  teaching  from  which  he 
never  wholly  freed  himself.^  On  his  return  to  Africa, 
he  resolved  to  put  in  practice  what  he  had  seen  and 
admired.  Arrived  at  his  old  home  and  birthplace  at 
Souk  Ahras  (Thagaste),  he  sold  his  possessions,  with 
the  exception  of  a  house  near  the  gate  of  the  city ; 
there  he  installed  himself  with  his  two  friends,  Alypius 
and  Evodius.  Later  he  founded  a  regular  monastery 
at  Hippo,  in  a  house  put  at  his  disposal  by  the  Bishop 
Valerius,  by  whom  he  was  ordained  priest,  a.d.  391. 
Several  bishops  were  chosen  from  among  the  inmates, 

'  Writing  of  the  Pelagians  at  Rome  (a.d.  409),  he  says,  "  Many  remained 
unsaved,  not  because  they  refuse  to  be  saved,  but  because  God  wills  that 
they  should  not  be."     {Ep.  ad  Vital.) 

^  Monasticism  was  introduced  from  Egypt  into  Christianity  by 
Pachomios,  a  former  priest  of  Serapis,  who  founded  the  first  community 
at  Tabennisi,  A.D.  322.  Apparently  the  system  reached  Egypt  from  India 
about  15.C.  340.     Cf.  Egypt  and  Israel,  p.  133. 


ii 


LACHRYMiE  ECCLESI^E  183 

Augustine  himself  among  the  number/  and  these 
carried  the  rule  into  their  dioceses.  Supported  by 
the  great  name  of  Augustine,  such  estabHshments 
spread  with  extraordinary  rapidity.  Fulgentius 
founded  four  in  the  Byzacene — one  in  the  mountains 
of  Mididi ;  another  at  Ruspoe  near  Sfax ;  a  third  on  the 
islands  of  Kerkennah,  on  the  coast  of  Tunisia,  off  Sfax, 
famous  as  the  place  of  refuge  for  Hannibal,  and  perhaps 
even  more  as  being  the  fabled  home  of  Circe,  as  Djerba, 
a  Httle  farther  south,  was  of  the  Lotus  Eaters;  the 
site  of  the  fourth  is  not  known.  By  the  end  of 
the  fourth  century,  Carthage  had  its  convents,  and 
soon  the  country  was  covered  with  them.  At  Lamta 
(LepHs  Minor),  Sousse  (Hadrumetum),  on  the  islands 
of  El  Kneis  and  Thabarka ;  near  the  present  Kairouan  ; 
at  Kairin  and  Monastir ;  at  Sbeitla  (Su/etula)  and 
Haidra  (Ammcsdara) ;  at  Tebessa  and  Timgad.  That 
at  Timgad  is  now  in  course  of  excavation  ;  it  is  remark- 
able for  the  grandeur  of  the  church  and  the  richness 
of  the  mosaics  of  the  baptistery ;  that  at  Tebessa,  the 
most  important  of  all,  is  described  elsewhere. 

Into  the  controversy  with  the  Donatists,  Augustine 
threw  himself  with  all  the  energy  of  his  nature  and  all 
the  weight  which  his  influence,  his  learning,  and  his 
intellect  gave  him.  For  four  years  (a.d.  408-412) 
the  debates  lasted,  during  which  time  Rome  had  been 
taken,  sacked,  and  evacuated  by  the  Visigoths,  and 
Alaric  had  died.  And  now,  freed  from  these  em- 
barrassments, Honorius  was  able  to  give  his  attention 
to  the  matter.  The  verdict  of  the  council  was  against 
the  Donatists  on  all  points,  and  the  Emperor  was 
called  upon  to  give  effect  to  its  decisions. 

Three  hundred  bishops  were  deprived,  thousands 

*  Augustine  was  associated  with  Valerius  as  Coadjutor  Bishop  of  Hippo, 
A.D.  391. 


i84  'TWIXT  SAND  AND  SEA 

of  the  inferior  clergy  were  torn  from  their  churches 
and  banished,  the  congregations  were  broken  up, 
and  deprived  of  the  right  of  public  worship.  These 
severities  met  with  the  full  approval  of  Augustine, 
who  openly  asserted  and  defended  the  justice  and 
propriety  of  persecution.  In  many  cases,  as  at  Con- 
stantine  (Cirta),  the  Donatists  accepted  the  decision 
and  were  reconciled  in  a  body  ;  but  the  more  fanatical 
of  their  number  were  driven  only  to  the  still  wilder 
excesses  of  despair,  and  the  country  was  filled  with 
armed  bands  who  turned  their  weapons  with  equal 
readiness  against  their  enemies  and  themselves.  On 
such  scenes  as  these  the  dying  eyes  of  Honorius  were 
closed  (a.d.  423). 


CHAPTER    XI 

CADAVER    URBIS* 

Carthage 

Before  saying  farewell  to  Carthage,  let  us  climb  the 
steep  street  of  Sidi  bou  Said,  which  lies  on  the  slope 
of  Cape  Carthage,^  and  from  the  lighthouse,  which  has 
taken  the  place  of  the  old  Pharos,  look  out  on  the 
scene  of  the  tragedy  of  nearly  three  thousand  years. 

With  the  exception  of  the  village  below  us,  and 
of  certain  buildings  which  Cardinal  Lavigerie  erected 
on  Byrsa  and  elsewhere,  all  must  now  be  strangely 
like  what  Elissar  saw  before  the  first  stone  of  her  city 
was  laid.  Beyond  the  fan-shaped  peninsula  where 
Carthage  stood,  we  look  over  the  isthmus  between 
the  Lake  of  Tunis  and  the  Sebka  er  Riana  to  the 
range  of  Djebel  Sidi  Ahmor  which  cut  it  off  from  the 
mainland.  Where  the  mountains  touch  the  lake, 
lie  the  white  houses  and  domes  of  Tunis  between  the 
waters  of  the  lake  on  one  side  and  those  of  the  Sebka 
er  Sedjoumi  on  the  other.  Farther  to  the  left,  over 
La  Goulette,  the  palisades  which  shut  in  the  lake, 
lie  the  little  watering-places  of  Rades  (Maxula)  and 
Hammam  Lif  ;  above  these  rise  the  crescent  heights 
of  Bou  Kornein,  and,  higher  still,  the  distant  crags 
of  Zaghouan,  from  which  Carthage  drew  its  supply 
of  water.  The  fine  ruins  of  the  Nympheum  still 
mark  the  spot  where  the  aqueduct  started  from  the 
springs.     Somewhere  in  the  hills  behind  Bou  Kornein 

^  "  Uno  loco  tot  oppidum  cadavera  projecta  jaceant." — Cic,  Ep.  iv.  5. 

*  The  cape  rises  to  a  height  of  393  feet  above  the  sea. 

1^5 


i86  'TWIXT   SAND   AND   SEA 

lies  the  defile  of  the  Hatchet,  where  Carthage  executed 
her  vengeance  on  the  mercenaries,  and  the  site  of  the 
camp  and  town  of  Nepheris.  Farther  still  to  the  left 
are  the  blue  waters  of  the  Gulf  of  Tunis,  shut  in  by  the 
range  of  mountains  which  end  in  Cape  Bon.  There  it 
was  that  Regulus  landed  and  Cyprian  was  banished. 

To  our  right  and  left,  as  we  stand  on  the  hghthouse, 
run  the  hills,  but  the  plain  before  us  is  unbroken  save 
by  two  or  three  insignificant  knolls,  of  which  Byrsa, 
crowned  by  the  new  cathedral,  is  the  highest.  The 
levels  are  green  with  barley,  the  more  broken  land  is 
covered  with  rank  grass,  sweet  with  wild  thyme, 
asphodel,  and  mignonette  nearly  five  feet  high.  Here 
and  there,  especially  on  the  slopes  of  Byrsa,  is  a 
gorgeous  blaze  of  golden  pyrethrum.  And  that  is 
all.  Two  vast  cities  have  run  their  course  there ; 
of  the  former  no  traces  remain  save  two  little  ponds, 
some  tombs,  and  a  layer  of  ashes  ;  of  the  latter  only 
some  foundations — '^  etiam  periere  ruince.^^ 

To  our  right  as  we  stand  on  the  Pharos,  the  ground, 
sinks  rapidly,  and  a  little  valley  opens  from  the  plain 
to  the  sea.  Where  now  stands  the  pleasant  little 
watering-place  of  La  Marsa,  with  the  palace  of  the 
Bey  on  one  side  and  the  Residence  de  France  on  the 
other,  lay  the  villa  of  Cyprian.  Here  it  was  that  he 
was  arrested.  The  Ager  SexH,  where  he  was  tried 
and  martyred,  lay  a  little  farther  inland  where  we 
now  see  the  EngHsh  Consulate.  Farther  still,  between 
us  and  Byrsa,  stands  a  cross  on  the  little  mound 
called  Koudiat  Sousou,  which  marks,  as  near  as  may 
be,  the  Area  Macrobii,  the  Cemetery  of  Macrobius, 
where  he  was  buried. 

Beyond  La  Marsa  the  ground  rises  again,  almost 
as  rapidly  as  it  fell,  into  the  heights  of  Djebel  Khaoui, 
the  Hollow  Mountain,  ending  in  Cape  Kamart.     All 


CADAVER   URBIS  187 

this  ground  was  covered  with  the  villas  of  Megara  ; 
the  wealthy  merchants  of  Tunis  are  beginning  to 
replace  them  with  houses  of  their  own.  Where 
Kamart  looks  down  on  the  shore  of  the  Sebka, 
Scipio  stormed  Megara,  but  was  forced  to  retreat. 

On  Djebel  Khaoui  lay  the  Jewish  Cemetery;  the 
hill  gets  its  name  from  the  multitude  of  sepulchres 
with  which  its  surface  is  undermined.  The  tombs 
are  of  a  type  with  which  the  Holy  Land  has  made  us 
familiar.  A  square  hole  sunk  in  the  rock  to  a  depth 
of  four  or  five  feet  opens,  by  a  small  entrance  which 
can  be  closed  by  a  stone,  into  a  chamber  in  the  rock 
about  twelve  feet  square  and  six  high.  On  each  side 
of  the  chamber  are  three  loculi,  two  and  a  half  feet 
square  and  six  feet  deep,  in  which  the  dead  were  laid  ; 
the  entrance  was  then  cemented  over.  Sometimes 
one  of  these  loculi  was  enlarged,  and  opened  into  a 
further  chamber  similar  to  the  first.  The  enormous 
number  of  tombs  testifies  to  the  size  of  the  Jewish 
population.  The  White  Fathers,  from  Byrsa,  have  a 
little  settlement  on  the  hill.  When  we  \isited  the  spot 
they  were  engaged  in  excavating  a  very  large  tomb 
which  they  had  discovered  in  their  plot  of  ground. 

Near  the  Cross  of  Cyprian  are  the  remains  of  the 
cisterns  of  La  Malga.  They  were  fifteen  in  number, 
and  were  fed  by  the  aqueduct  which  Hadrian  con- 
structed from  Djebel  Zaghouan,  a  distance  of  nearly 
sixty  miles.  Traces  of  the  aqueduct  can  be  seen  close 
by.  Long  stretches  of  it  still  lie  between  Tunis  and 
the  Bardo,  and  span  the  plain  near  Oudna.  In  their 
present  form  the  cisterns  are  certainly  Roman,  but 
probably  they  are  the  successors  of  Punic  works  of  the 
same  description.  For  the  most  part  they  have  been 
destroyed ;  the  fragments  which  remain  are  sufficient  to 
form  an  Arab  village,  and  provide  shelter  for  the  beasts. 


i88  'TWIXT  SAND  AND  SEA 

Near  the  cisterns  are  other  ruins  of  importance — 
the  house  of  the  charioteer  Scorpianus,  and  the  two 
cemeteries  of  the  Roman  officials.  It  was  here  that, 
on  his  entrance  into  Carthage,  the  ferocious  Hunneric 
trampled  beneath  his  horses'  hoofs  the  bishops  and 
the  clergy  who  had  come  out  to  meet  him. 

The  graves  in  the  cemeteries  are  very  simple — a 
dp  pus  of  masonry  containing  two  or  three  urns. 
Their  peculiarity  is  the  funnel  which  leads  to  the 
surface,  by  which  libations  could  reach  the  ashes  of 
the  dead.  Some  of  the  imprecations  which,  written 
on  thin  sheets  of  lead,  were  dropped  into  these  funnels, 
have  been  described  already.  One  or  two,  of  a  some- 
what different  character,  may  be  noticed  here.  Here 
is  one  :  ^ — 

"Te  rogo  qui  infernales  partes  tenes  commendo  tibi  Julia  Faus- 
tina Marii  filia  ut  earn  celerius  abducas  et  ibi  in  numerum  tu  abias. " 

On  the  other  side,  which  is  injured,  we  read  : — 

"...  Faustina  ut  earn  celerius  abducas  infernalis  partibus  in 
numeru  tu  abias." 

"  I  invoke  thee,  who  reignest  over  the  infernal  regions,  I  commend 
to  thee  Julia  Faustilla,  daughter  of  Marius,  that  thou  mayest  carry  her 
off  as  quickly  as  may  be,  and  there  keep  her,  in  the  number  of  thy 
people." 

Another,  surrounded  with  magical  names  in  Greek, 
runs  as  follows  :  ^ — 

URATUR 

SUCESA 

ADURATUR 

AMORE   VET 

DESIDRI 

SUCESI 

"  May  Successa  be  burnt  and  consumed  with  love  and  desire  for 
Successus." 

^  C.I.L.  12505.  2  i^id,^  12507. 


CADAVER   URBIS  189 

Not  far  off  is  the  amphitheatre,  the  scene  of  the 
martyrdom  of  Perpetua  and  many  others.  Not  so 
large  as  the  Colosseum,  but  two  storeys  higher,  it 
must  have  been  a  building  of  great  magnificence. 
The  arrangements  differed  from  those  at  Rome,  in 
that  the  arena  was  solid  ground  instead  of  being  a 
movable  platform.  The  dens  for  wild  beasts  and 
other  necessary  rooms,  which  at  Rome  were  under 
the  arena,  are  here  in  the  podium,  which  lifted  the 
ranges  of  seats  to  a  safe  height  above  the  arena.  All 
over  the  arena  was  found  a  layer  of  reddish  sand, 
about  eighteen  inches  thick  ;  it  recalls  the  seas  of  blood 
which  have  flowed  there,  even  if  it  does  not  owe  its 
discoloration  to  them.  Below  the  centre  of  the 
arena  was  found  a  large  vaulted  chamber ;  probably 
this  was  the  career  in  which  the  martyrs,  and  others 
who  were  to  fight  the  wild  beasts,  were  confined  and 
prepared  for  the  terrible  ordeal.  On  a  marble  pillar 
preserved  in  the  vault  is  a  most  human  document  : 
it  is  an  inscription  of  a  single  word,  EvASi,  "  I  have 
escaped,"  doubtless  from  the  paw  of  the  lion.  The 
vault  has  now  been  fitted  up  as  a  chapel  to  St.  Perpetua. 

In  the  arena  has  been  found  also  a  square  pit, 
communicating  with  an  underground  passage.  Pro- 
bably it  was  a  trap-door  through  which  the  beasts 
could  be  lifted  on  to  the  stage.  Here  it  was  that 
the  seal  of  Mercury,  with  his  red-hot  iron,  was  found. 
Another  tabula  exeerationis  was  found  here  ;  it  runs 
as  follows  : — 

"  O  Demon,  bind  and  fetter  fast  Maurussus,  whom  Felicitas 
brought  into  the  world. 

"  Rob  of  his  slumber  that  he  may  not  be  able  to  sleep,  Maurussus, 
whom  Felicitas  brought  into  the  world. 

"  Almighty  God,  take  to  the  nethermost  hell  Maurussus,  whom 
Felicitas  brought  into  the  world. 

"  Thou  that  reignest  over  the  countries  of  Italy  and  Campania,  Thou 


igo  'TWIXT  SAND  AND  SEA 

whose  power  extends  over  the  Acherusian  Lake,  take  to  the  abodes  of 
Tartarus,  within  the  space  of  seven  days,  Maurussus,  whom  Felicitas 
brought  into  the  world. 

"  Demon,  who  rulcst  over  Spain  and  Africa,  thou  who  alone  canst 
cross  the  sea,  counteract  every  remedy,  every  charm,  every  medicine, 
every  libation  of  oil."     {Ruines  de  Carthage,  p.  i6.) 

And  SO  on.  It  is  interesting  to  notice  that,  as  is 
usual  in  such  magical  incantations,  the  victim  is  de- 
scribed as  the  son,  not  of  his  father,  but  of  his  mother. 

Here  also  were  found  two  votive  plates  of  metal, 
shaped  like  feet,  which  have  been  noticed  already. 
They  bear  no  legible  inscription. 

Until  the  Middle  Ages  the  amphitheatre  was  fairly 
perfect.  It  was  destroyed  by  the  Arabs,  partly  for 
the  sake  of  the  stones ;  even  more  to  get  at  the 
copper  clamps,  set  in  lead,  which  bound  the  stones 
together ;  the  surface  of  the  Colosseum  has  been 
marred  by  the  same  VandaHsm.  Close  by  is  the 
Koudiat  TsalH. 

Still  a  little  farther  south  are  the  remains  of  the 
circus.  The  spina  was  three  hundred  and  thirty 
yards  long,  the  circus  itself  nearly  double  that 
length.  It  would  accommodate  about  three  hundred 
thousand  spectators.  In  a.d.  536,  and  again  in  the 
following  year,  the  mutinous  Byzantine  soldiers  fortified 
themselves  within  it.  After  that  it  was  completely 
destroyed. 

Returning  past  the  amphitheatre  and  the  Cross 
of  St.  Cyprian  we  reach  the  theatre,  hollowed  out  of 
the  side  of  a  little  hill.  Here  Apuleius  pronounced 
one  of  his  celebrated  discourses,  and  Tertullian 
scandalised  the  people  by  coming  in  morning  dress. 
We  may  remember  that  Augustine,  in  his  Confessions, 
takes  himself  severely  to  task  for  his  love  of  theatrical 
performances.  It  was  destroyed  and  burnt  by  the 
Vandals  in  a.d.  439.    A  few  tolerable  statues  have 


CADAVER  URBIS  191 

been  found  there,  including  a  colossal  Apollo  leaning 
on  his  tripod  and  a  beautiful  Demeter.  These  are 
now  in  the  Bardo. 

Close  by  stood  the  Odeum,  or  Opera-House.  It 
was  erected  a.d.  204,  when  the  Carthaginians  obtained 
leave  to  celebrate  the  Pythian  Games.  It  was  like 
the  theatre,  only  smaller  and  roofed  in,  and  shared 
its  fate.  Little  of  it  now  remains ;  but  the  best 
statues  yet  unearthed  at  Carthage  have  been  found 
here ;  two,  one  of  Venus  and  another  of  Juno  Regina, 
so  called,  are  really  fine. 

Byrsa,  which  should  be  the  most  interesting  site 
in  all  Carthage,  is,  partly  perhaps  on  that  account, 
the  most  disappointing.  The  destruction  has  been 
more  thorough  even  than  elsewhere,  and  the  site  is 
covered  with  modern  buildings  which  have  nothing 
to  recommend  them  except  that  they  are  the  burial- 
place  of  the  great  Cardinal  Lavigerie.  Of  Punic  work 
not  a  wrack  remains  except  one  doubtful  piece  of  wall. 
No  trace  is  left  of  the  great  Temple  of  Eschmoun 
which  saw  the  double  tragedy  of  the  beginning  and  end 
of  Karthhadack,  when  Ehssar  threw  herself  upon  the 
pyre,  and  when  the  wife  of  Hasdrubal  cast  herself 
and  her  children  into  the  blazing  ruins  of  the  temple. 
Standing  out  in  front  have  been  found  some  bases 
of  columns  belonging  to  the  Temple  of  iEsculapius, 
which  took  its  place,  but  these  are  the  only  fragments 
which  have  been  identified.  Behind  them,  in  the 
garden  of  the  Primatial,  stands  the  paltry  little  chapel 
of  St.  Louis  of  France,  who  died  here  on  his  crusade 
against  Tunis.  He  was  buried  in  the  wonderful 
church  of  Monreale  above  Palermo  ;  but  some  relics 
have  been  brought  back  and  He  in  the  new  cathedral. 

In  front  of  and  below  the  chapel  lie  a  series  of 
seven  apsidal  chambers,  nearly  sixty  yards  in  length  ; 


192  'TWIXT   SAND  AND  SEA 

the  middle  and  most  important  room  was  lined  with 
marble,  the  others  with  stucco.  They  probably  belong 
to  the  time  when  Augustus  had  the  site  levelled,  and 
were  the  undercroft  of  some  important  building. 

Ruins,  possibly  of  the  CapitoHne  Temple,  lie  under 
the  cathedral ;  amongst  them  were  found  a  colossal 
Victory,  recalUng  the  Nike  of  Samothrace,  and  two 
huge  reliefs  of  Abundance.  The  only  ruins  above 
ground  lie  by  the  side  of  the  cathedral ;  perhaps  they 
belonged  to  the  Proconsular  Palace. 

At  the  south-east  side  of  the  hill  a  fine  piece  of 
wall  has  been  laid  bare,  which  is,  perhaps,  Punic  ; 
and  a  curious  crypt,  perhaps — for  everything  here  is 
"  perhaps  " — a  prison.  Later  on  it  was  consecrated 
as  a  chapel  in  honour  of  some  saints  who,  possibly, 
had  been  confined  there.  The  walls  were  decorated 
with  rude  paintings  of  saints  with  haloes,  a  pagan 
sign  of  canonisation  which  the  Church  hesitated  long 
before  she  could  accept.  The  paintings  have  faded, 
but  a  copy  has  been  placed  in  the  Museum. 

Hard  by  is  a  Punic  necropolis;  the  graves  are 
protected  by  triangular  vaults  of  large  stones.  Near 
this  has  been  found  a  plague  pit,  containing  some 
hundreds  of  skeletons.  Probably  it  dates  from  the 
great  pestilence  of  196  B.C. 

A  little  farther  on  are  the  trifling  remains  of  a 
curious  wall  built  entirely  of  amphorcB.  The  dates 
on  the  jars — 45-15  B.C. — show  that  it  belongs  to  the 
time  of  Augustus.  Except  that  the  amphorcB  are 
unbroken,  it  reminds  us  of  the  Monte  Testaccio  at 
Rome. 

Near  the  shore,  about  six  hundred  yards  from  the 
foot  of  Byrsa,  lie  two  little  ponds.  The  nearer  is 
bent  like  the  blade  of  a  sickle,  the  other  is  long  and 
straight  Hke  its  handle.     Next  to  Byrsa  itself,  these 


CADAVER   URBIS  193 

are  the  most  interesting  relics  of  old  Carthage ;  for 
they  represent  the  famous  ports  which  the  Dido  was 
excavating  when  iEneas  came. 

When,  in  a.d.  698,  Hassan  destroyed  Carthage^ 
he  filled  up  the  harbours  for  fear  Carthage  should 
again  rise  from  the  dust  to  rival  his  Capital  at  Tunis. 
Quite  recently  they  have  been  dug  out,  but  only 
in  part,  so  the  ponds  mark  the  position,  but  give  no 
idea  of  the  size  of  the  original  ports.  The  nearer 
takes  the  place  of  the  circular  Cothon,  and  it  is  pleasant 
to  imagine  that  a  depression  between  it  and  the  sea 
marks  the  channel  cut  by  the  Carthaginians  after  the 
entrance  had  been  blocked  by  the  mole  of  Scipio, 
In  the  centre  is  the  island  on  which  stood  the 
Admiral's  house,  surmounted  by  a  tower.  On  this 
island  excavations  are  now  being  carried  on  by  the 
soldiers.  The  officer  who  was  directing  the  work 
pointed  out  how  the  digging  proved  the  accuracy  of 
the  old  descriptions.  Many  of  the  pillars  and  other 
broken  fragments  unearthed  were  certainly  Roman, 
but  the  great  stones  of  the  foundations  are  marked 
with  the  Tanith  in  red  paint,  and  are  equally  certainly 
Punic. 

The  passage  from  the  naval  to  the  commercial 
port  and  from  this  to  the  sea  is  still  blocked,  but  the 
remains  of  the  breakwater,  and  of  the  vast  mole  of 
Scipio,  are  visible.  Very  careful  soundings  were  made 
by  Lieut,  de  Roquefeuil,  in  1898,  but  the  conclusions 
arrived  at  are  still  precarious. 

Close  to  the  Cothon,  between  it  and  Byrsa,  lay 
the  Forum,  or  Agora,  where  Scipio  halted  for  a  night 
before  his  awful  onslaught  on  the  city.  Here  Bomilcar 
was  crucified  for  aspiring  to  kingly  power,  and  many 
an  unfortunate  general  or  admiral  paid  the  same 
penalty  for  failure.      Here  also  stood  the  statue  of 

N 


194  'TWIXT  SAND  AND  SEA 

Apollo  in  robes  of  gold,  which  formed  part  of  the 
booty  of  Scipio. 

Walking  by  the  shore,  along  the  hnes  of  the 
ancient  quays  towards  Bordj  Djedid,  we  pass  the 
ruins  of  the  huge  Thermae  of  Antoninus,  now  called 
Dermech,  a  corruption  of  the  word  ''thermae."  Then, 
turning  to  the  left,  we  reach  the  cisterns  which  fed 
the  baths.  The  Arabs  call  them  "  Mouadjel  ech 
Cheiatin,"  "  The  Devil's  Cisterns."  They  consist  of 
seventeen  parallel  chambers,  one  hundred  feet  long, 
twenty-four  feet  wide,  and  thirty  high ;  at  the  ends  of 
these  run  two  more,  four  hundred  and  fifty  feet  long. 
The  reservoirs  communicate  with  one  another  by 
openings  high  up  in  the  wall,  to  ensure  an  equal  depth 
of  water  in  them  all,  and  to  allow  all  sediment  to  sink, 
as  the  water  made  its  way  slowly  from  one  chamber  to 
another.  Any  reservoir  could  be  isolated  and  cleaned 
by  means  of  sluice  gates  and  air-  or  man-holes  in 
the  crown  of  the  vault.  The  "  Sette  Salle  "  at  Rome 
were  built  on  the  same  principle.  They  have  been 
restored  and  are  in  use  now.  The  total  contents  are 
put  at  twenty-five  or  thirty  thousand  cubic  yards. 

Close  by  is  a  little  Christian  basihca,  with  beautiful 
mosaic  floors.  It  is  strange  that  of  all  the  churches 
of  Carthage  so  few  have  been  discovered  and  none 
identified.^ 

Turning  to  the  right  and  passing  the  Theatre  and 
Odeum,  we  reach  the  great  Basilica  known  as  the 
Damous-el-Karita,  "  Domus  Caritatis,"  **  The  House  of 
Love."  It  stands  in  the  centre  of  a  vast  Christian 
cemetery,  and  must  have  been  one  of  the  grandest 
churches  of  Carthage,  if  not  of  all  Africa. 

The  church  is  rectangular,  with  an  apse  to  the 
south.     Its  total  length  is  two  hundred  and  sixteen 

*  The  names  of  twenty-eight  are  known. 


Cisterns  at  Carthage 


Tunis 


CADAVER   URBIS  195 

feet,  its  breadth  is  one  hundred  and  fifty.  It  con- 
sists of  a  nave  and  transept,  each  forty  feet  broad; 
on  each  side  of  the  nave  are  four  aisles.  At  the 
intersection  of  the  nave  and  transept,  the  bases  of 
four  pillars  mark  the  site  of  the  "  Ciborium,"  under 
which  stood  the  wooden  altar.  In  the  transept,  one 
bay  east  of  the  altar,  are  the  remains  of  another 
apse,  and  the  great  arcade  of  pillars  has  been  carried 
right  across  the  nave,  thus  giving  the  appearance 
of  a  church  orientated  east  and  west.  This  was 
doubtless  the  work  of  some  late  restorers,  probably 
the  Byzantines,  who  found  the  church  in  ruins  and 
restored  only  part  of  it. 

The  chief  door  was  at  the  north  end  of  the  nave, 
and  opened  into  a  great  semicircular  atrium,  sur- 
rounded, like  the  Temple  of  Coelestis  at  Dougga,  with 
a  pillared  cloister.  In  the  centre,  forming  a  sort  of 
nymphaeum,  was  a  range  of  pillars  and  a  large 
octagonal  fountain. 

In  the  centre  of  the  cloister,  opposite  the  great 
door  of  the   church,  is  an  opening  into  a  trefoiled 
chapel  or  trichorum  very  like  that  at  Tebessa,  doubt- 
less  the    shrine   or   chapel   of    some    now-unknown 
:  saint  or  martyr.     In  the  apse  opposite  the  entrance 
I  is  the  base  on  which  stood  a  sarcophagus  or  mensa 
;  martyrum.     The    space    round    it    is    crowded    with 
1  tombs.     The   whole   stands   on   the   site   of   an   old 
Columbarium. 

On  the  other  side  of  the  church  stood  the  baptistery, 
large  enough  to  be  a  second  church,  for  it  was  one 
hundred  and  twenty  feet  by  eighty.  In  the  centre, 
approached  by  steps  and  surrounded  with  pillars  of 
white  marble,  was  the  hexagonal  font.  Still  farther 
to  the  south  stood  a  little  apsidal  chapel,  with  niches 
on  each  side.    This  was  doubtless  the  sacristy,  where 


196  'TWIXT  SAND  AND   SEA 

the  robes  and  other  necessaries  for  the  administration 
of  the  sacrament  were  kept.  To  the  east  and  west 
are  some  Uttle  rooms,  probably  vestries  and  dressing- 
rooms  for  the  candidates  for  baptism. 

The  whole  of  the  great  mass  of  buildings  is  sur- 
rounded with  numberless  other  chambers  and  houses 
for  the  clergy,  and  a  bishop's  palace,  but  these  have 
as  yet  been  only  partially  excavated. 

More  than  fourteen  thousand  fragments  of  bas- 
reliefs  and  inscriptions,  giving  at  least  four  hundred 
names,  have  been  discovered.  Often  these  are  the 
names  of  martyrs,  but  probably  this  is  accidental, 
or,  at  most,  they  came  from  some  memorial,  not  from 
the  tomb-stones  of  the  martyrs  themselves.  The 
carvings  are  of  the  usual  subjects  with  which  we  are 
famihar  in  the  catacombs  of  Rome  and  elsewhere — 
the  Good  Shepherd,  the  Angels  appearing  to  the 
Shepherds,  the  multiplication  of  the  loaves,  the  Fall, 
St.  Peter  with  his  cock,  St.  Paul  preaching,  the  Three 
Children,  and  so  on.  Amongst  the  symbols  used  are 
the  Lamb,  the  Fish,  the  Anchor,  the  Ship,  the  Light- 
house, the  Dove  with  the  Olive  Branch,  the  Peacock, 
the  Crown,  the  Palm  and  the  Vine. 

The  epitaphs  do  not  require  notice  ;  for  the  most 
part,  they  consist  of  little  more  than  names,  followed, 
in  the  earlier  cases,  by  the  words  In  Pace,  in  the 
later  ones  by  Fidelis. 

Such  is  Carthage. 


CHAPTER   XII 

res  ultimo,   a.d.  423-550 
The  Vandals 

The  final  downfall  of  the  tottering  Empire  of  Rome 
was  wrought  by  the  flooding  of  the  civilised  provinces 
of  the  south — Gaul,  Spain,  and  finally  Italy  itself — 
by  stream  after  stream  of  the  strong,  virile  races  of 
the  north  and  east. 

Amongst  the  hordes  which,  at  the  beginning  of  the 
fifth  century,  under  the  pressure  of  the  Huns  and 
Sarmatians  in  their  rear,  became  dislodged  like  an 
avalanche  or  landslip,  and  swept  south  and  west  in 
the  army  of  Rhodogast  or  Rodogaisus,  were  the 
Vandals.  We  first  find  them  in  the  second  century, 
settled  to  the  south  of  the  Baltic  ;  a  southern  division 
of  the  race,  living  in  Bohemia,  took  part  in  the  Marco- 
mannic  Wars  of  a.d.  167-179.  About  the  middle  of 
the  third  century  they  joined  the  Goths  and  occupied 
Dacia  and  the  country  north  of  the  Black  Sea ;  in 
A.D.  277  the  Emperor  Probus  planted  a  colony  of  them 
in  Britain.  In  the  year  a.d.  405  they  joined  the 
Alani,  Burgundians,  and  Suevi,  and  invaded  Italy 
under  the  banner  of  Rhodogast.  Whilst  besieging 
Florence  they  were  surrounded  by  the  Romans  under 
Stilicho  and  compelled  to  surrender  with  a  loss  of 
twenty  thousand  men,  including  their  king.  Next 
year,  a.d.  406,  they  moved  towards  Gaul,  and  were 
again  defeated  by  the  Franks.  However,  they  rejoined 
their  old  allies,  the  Alani,  Suevi,  and  Burgundians, 

197 


198  TWIXT   SAND  AND   SEA 

and  with  them  crossed  the  Rhone  on  the  last  day  of 
A.D.  406,  and  never  returned.  It  is  from  this  memor- 
able passage  that  Gibbon  dates  the  Fall  of  the  Roman 
Empire  in  the  countries  beyond  the  Alps. 

This  movement  to  the  west  is  said  to  have  been 
made  at  the  suggestion  of  Stilicho,  who  was  himself 
of  Vandal  stock.  Probably  this  is  untrue,  but  it  was 
undoubtedly  his  policy  to  defend  Italy  at  the  expense 
of  the  outlying  provinces,  which  he  could  no  longer 
hold.  Thus,  "  the  barriers  which  had  so  long  sepa- 
rated the  savage  from  the  civilised  nations  of  the 
earth  were  from  that  fatal  moment  levelled  with 
the  ground." 

In  less  than  two  years,  a.d.  409,  the  Vandals  had 
reached  the  Pyrenees  ;  and,  leaving  their  allies  behind 
them,  to  help  towards  the  making  of  modern  France, 
they  poured  over  the  mountain  passes  into  Spain. 
There  they  parted  into  three  bands.  One  drifted 
to  the  west,  into  Tarrantum;  another  south-west, 
into  Lusitania;  the  rest  made  their  way  due  south 
into  Boetica.  By  the  year  a.d.  422,  they  had  taken 
Seville  and  Carthagena,  and  occupied  the  southern 
provinces  of  Spain,  to  which  their  coming  gave  the 
new  name  of  Andalucia. 

But  even  this  was  not  destined  to  be  their  final 
resting-place.  In  a.d.  423,  the  Emperor  Honorius 
died,  and,  after  the  usual  interval  of  confusion,  and 
the  attempted  usurpation  of  the  throne  by  his  prin- 
cipal secretary  {primicerius)  John,  aided  and  abetted 
by  his  great  general  Aetius,  his  son  Valentinian  III. 
succeeded  to  the  vacant  throne,  at  the  age  of  six 
years.  During  the  long  minority  of  the  young  Emperor 
the  reins  of  power  were  in  the  hands  of  his  mother, 
Galla  Placidia,  a  strangely  interesting  woman,  daughter, 
sister,  wife,  and  mother  of  Emperors  of  Rome.    At 


RES    ULTIMiE  199 

one  time,  as  wife  of  Athaulphus  (Adolphus),  brother- 
in-law  of  Alaric,  she  had  reigned  as  Queen  of  the  Goths  ; 
then  she  had  been  the  victim  and  slave  of  his  murderer, 
Singeric  ;  next,  as  wife  of  the  brave  Constantius,  she 
had  become  Empress  of  Rome ;  on  his  death  she  had 
been  driven  as  an  exile  to  the  Court  of  Theodosius 
at  Constantinople  ;  now  she  returned  in  triumph  to 
Italy  as  Empress  in  all  but  name.  Her  lovely  tomb 
at  Ravenna  is  almost  the  last  possibility  of  beauty 
in  mosaic/ 

The  task  of  restoring  order  in  Africa,  of  reviving 
the  waning  spirit  of  allegiance,  of  curbing  the  wild 
excesses  of  the  Donatists  and  giving  peace  to  the 
distracted  country,  was  entrusted  by  Placidia  to 
Count  Boniface,  a  strange  mixture  of  Saint,  Knight 
and  CondoHero.  His  defence  of  Marseilles  attested 
his  military  skill,  his  personal  courage  had  won  him 
the  respect  and  fear  of  the  barbarians,  his  warm 
friendship  with  the  aged  Augustine  made  him  accept- 
able to  the  Church,  the  tried  probity  of  his  character 
and  the  sternness  of  his  even-handed  justice  made  him 
worthy  of  the  dignity  given  to  him,  while  his  devoted 
loyalty  to  Placidia  was  proved  by  the  fact  that  during 
her  exile  at  Constantinople  he  alone  had  remained 
faithful  to  her,  and  that  money  and  troops  supplied 
by  him  had  contributed  largely  to  the  suppression  of 
the  revolt  of  John. 

Unhappily  for  Boniface,  he  left  near  the  throne 
at  Ravenna  his  great  and  unscrupulous  rival,  Aetius, 
a  man  who,  though  his  defeat  of  Attila,  the  Scourge 
of  God,  on  the  field  of  Chalons,  put  his  military  genius 

^  The  sarcophagus  of  Athaulphus  (Athanulph)  still  stands  in  the  Church 
of  S.  Aquilinus  which  he  founded  at  Milan.  The  sarcophagus  of  Galla 
Placidia,  at  Ravenna,  stands  between  those  of  Honorius  and  Constantius 
These  are,  apparently,  the  only  Imperial  tombs  which  have  never  been 
moved.     Her  daughter  Honoria  lies  in  the  same  chapel. 


200  'TWIXT  SAND  AND  SEA 

beyond  the  reach  of  doubt,  had  shown  by  his  support 
of  the  usurper  John,  that  his  loyalty  could  not  be 
depended  upon. 

Aetius  took  advantage  of  the  absence  of  Boniface 
to  gain  complete  ascendancy  over  the  mind  of  Galla 
Placidia,  and  by  his  intrigues  and  treachery  under- 
mined her  confidence  in  her  one  loyal  subject.  So  well 
did  he  succeed  that  at  last  Boniface  was  driven,  in 
self-defence,  to  the  rebellion  of  which  he  had  been 
unjustly  accused. 

In  spite  of  a  touching  letter  from  Augustine, 
imploring  him  not  to  plunge  the  country  and  empire 
into  a  parricidal  war,  Boniface,  a.d.  428,  invited  the 
Vandals  to  come  over  from  Spain  and  help  him.  All 
the  country  west  of  the  Ampsagas  ^  was  to  be  theirs, 
on  condition  that  they  guaranteed  him  the  peaceful 
and  undisturbed  possession  of  the  rest. 

The  invitation  came  at  a  most  opportune  moment. 
The  Vandal  King,  Godigisclus,  had  fallen  in  battle 
on  the  other  side  of  the  Rhine,  and  now  his  son  and 
successor,  Gontharis,  had  been  murdered  by  his  bastard 
brother,  the  terrible  Geiseric,  or  Genseric,  a  name 
which  deservedly  ranks  with  those  of  Alaric  and 
Attila.  Base-born,  of  small  stature,  slow  of  speech, 
deformed  in  body  by  a  fall  from  his  horse,  he  was 
destined  for  the  next  forty  years  to  prove  that  his 
vast  ambition  was  justified  by  a  dauntless  courage, 
a  genius  for  war,  and  an  aptitude  for  state-craft  which 
were  unhampered  by  any  scruples  of  pity  or  of  honour. 

Nothing  could  suit  such  a  man  better  than  such 
an  invitation.  In  a.d.  429  he  crossed  from  Gibraltar 
to  Ceuta  in  ships  supplied  by  the  anxious  Boniface 
and  the  still  more  anxious  Spaniards.    Surely  never  was 

^  The  Oued-el-Kebir,  which  falls  into  the  sea  north  of  Constantine,  near 
Djidjeli. 


RES    ULTIMO  201 

guest  so  sped  on  his  departure  and  so  welcomed  on 
his  arrival.  With  him  he  brought  a  mixed  multitude, 
a  nation  rather  than  an  army,  eighty  or  ninety  thousand 
strong,  of  whom  about  half  were  soldiers.  Like  all 
invaders  of  Africa,  he  was  hailed  as  a  deliverer,  and 
his  success  was  immediate  and  complete ;  but  his 
coming  set  the  country  in  a  blaze.  All  the  elements 
of  disorder  which  the  firm  rule  of  Boniface  had  kept 
in  control,  broke  loose  ;  the  natives  rose  against  the 
Roman  sway,  while  the  Donatists,  after  seventeen  years 
of  rigorous  suppression  and  proscription,  naturally 
joined  the  Arian  invaders,  who  were  bound  to  them  by 
that  strongest  of  all  ties,  a  common  hatredof  the  Church. 

That  Genseric  should  confine  himself  within  the 
borders  assigned  him  longer  than  suited  his  purpose, 
was  more  than  could  be  expected,  and  Boniface  soon 
realised  his  mistake.  Friends  visited  him  from  the 
Court  of  Ravenna,  and  returned  bearing  with  them 
the  forged  letters  which  disclosed  the  treachery  of 
Aetius ;  the  breach  between  Boniface  and  Placidia 
was  healed,  and  Boniface  determined  to  resist  his 
formidable  allies.  But  it  was  too  late ;  he  was  defeated 
by  Genseric,  and  at  last  shut  up  and  besieged  in  Hippo, 
where  he  arrived  in  time  to  close  the  eyes  of  his  friend 
Augustine,  who  died  there  on  August  28th,  a.d.  430. 
From  May  a.d.  430  until  July  a.d.  431,  the  siege  lasted. 
Realising  the  importance  of  Africa,  Placidia  implored 
the  help  of  the  Emperor  of  the  East,  and  Aspar  sailed 
from  Constantinople  to  relieve  the  besieged  city.  Thus 
reinforced,  Boniface  ventured  on  a  second  battle, 
and  his  defeat  sealed  the  fate  of  Roman  Africa.  In 
despair,  he  left  Hippo  with  Aspar,  taking  his  soldiers 
with  him,  and  leaving  the  defenceless  citizens  to  the 
tender  mercies  of  the  Vandals. 

Near  Ravenna  he  met  his  rival  Aetius  in  battle, 


202  'TWIXT  SAND  AND   SEA 

and,  though  victorious,  he  received  a  fatal  wound, 
at  the  hand,  it  was  said,  of  Aetius  himself.  Tradition, 
or  legend,  has  cast  a  halo  of  romance  round  his  death. 
We  are  told  that  the  quarrel  was  decided  by  a  hand-to- 
hand  encounter  between  the  two  generals.  Owing  to 
the  greater  length  of  his  spear,  Aetius  was  victorious, 
and  Boniface,  with  his  last  breath,  committed  his 
young  wife  to  him  as  the  only  man  worthy  of  her.^ 
The  story  is  interesting,  if  only  as  an  anticipation  of 
the  tournament  as  a  court  of  honour,  and  of  the 
coming  ages  of  romance  and  chivalry. 

In  the  full  tide  of  victory,  Genseric  was  obliged 
to  pause  for  a  time.  Difficulties  thickened  round 
him.  His  advance  to  the  east  had  left  Mauretania 
almost  stripped  of  troops  and  open  to  the  ravages 
of  the  Romans  from  Spain :  in  Numidia  the 
almost  impregnable  fortress  of  Cirta  (Constantine) 
defied  his  arms  ;  and  his  nephews,  the  sons  of  the 
murdered  Gontharis,  added  to  his  difficulties  by 
stirring  up  mutiny  in  the  ranks  of  his  army.  It  was 
said  that  he  shed  more  Vandal  blood  on  the  scaffold 
than  on  the  field  of  battle,  before  the  disaffection 
was  appeased.  Meanwhile,  on  January  30th,  a.d.  435, 
he  made  a  peace  with  Valentinian,  by  which  he  secured 
to  the  Roman  Emperor  the  peaceful  possession  of 
Carthage  and  of  the  Proconsular  province  of  Africa. 

This  arrangement  lasted  just  as  long  as  suited  the 
convenience  of  Genseric.  In  a.d.  439  he  was  ready  to 
take  the  field  again.  Suddenly,  without  the  sHghtest 
notice,  he  advanced  upon  Carthage,  and  surprised 
and  took  it,  five  hundred  and  thirty  years  after  its 
capture    and    destruction    by    Scipio.    The    land    of 

'  A  somewhat  similar  story  is  told  by  Gibbon  of  the  death  of  Stotzas. 
Cf.  Gibbon  xi.  3  :  "  He  fell  in  a  single  combat,  but  he  smiled  in  the  agonies 
of  death,  when  he  was  informed  that  his  own  javelin  had  reached  the 
heart  of  his  antagonist." 


RES    ULTIMiE  203 

Proconsular  Africa  he  divided  amongst  such  of  his 
followers  as  were  not  already  provided  for ;  Car- 
thage he  made  a  pirate  stronghold.  An  alliance 
with  Attila,  King  of  the  Huns,  secured  him  from  the 
interference  of  Rome. 

Of  all  the  great  barbarian  invaders,  Genseric  seems 
to  have  been  the  ablest  and  most  versatile.  Not 
content  with  his  African  conquests,  he  built  a  fleet 
and  seized  the  Balearic  Islands,  Sicily,  Corsica,  and 
Sardinia ;  the  Vandal  fleet  became  the  scourge  of  the 
Mediterranean,  as  the  Barbary  corsairs  were  later 
on  in  history.  ''Whither  shall  we  steer?"  asked 
his  ship's  master,  when  starting  on  one  of  these 
buccaneering  expeditions.  "  Where  God  wills,"  was 
Genseric's  answer ;  and  "  God "  seems  generally  to 
have  ** willed"  that  he  should  go  wherever  booty  was 
most  plentiful  and  least  protected. 

In  A.D.  455  Genseric  received  another   invitation, 

not  less  agreeable  than  the  first.     After  murdering 

Aetius  with  his  own  hand,  "  cutting  off  his  right  hand 

with  his  left,"  the  wretched  Valentinian  III.  had  been 

himself   murdered  by  Petronius  Maximus,  a  wealthy 

senator,   whose  wife  he  had   debauched.     With   the 

throne   Maximus  seized    also  the   Empress  Eudoxia, 

daughter  of  Theodosius,   Emperor  of  the  East,  and 

made  her  his  wife.     The  unwilling  bride  invoked  the 

i  aid  of  the  terrible  King  of  the  Vandals  to  avenge  her 

;  wrongs.     Such  a  call  was  not  likely  to  remain  un- 

!  answered.     Genseric  sailed  at  once,  and  landed  at  the 

j  mouth  of   the  Tiber,  where  his  arrival  was  a  signal 

'  for  the  murder  of  Maximus.     Advancing  boldly  from 

Ostia,  he  was  met  at  the  gate  of  Rome  by  the  Bishop, 

Leo,   who   pleaded   for    the   defenceless   city,    as   he 

had  interceded   with  Attila.     Again  he  was  in  part 

successful.     There  was  no  general  massacre,  and  the 


204  'TWIXT  SAND  AND   SEA 

city  was  not  destroyed ;  but  for  fourteen  days,  from 
June  15th  to  29th,  it  was  given  up  to  the  will  of  the 
wild  Vandal  and  African  soldiery  to  be  sacked  and 
systematically  looted.  Then  Genseric  returned  to 
Carthage,  laden  with  his  priceless  booty.  Gold  and 
silver  statues  of  the  gods,  the  bronze  tiles  of  the 
Capitol,  which  Domitian  had  gilded  at  a  cost,  it  is 
said,  of  £2,400,000,  the  golden  candlestick  and  table 
of  showbread  from  Jerusalem,  with  other  treasures 
stored  in  the  Temple  of  Peace  in  the  Forum,  all  found 
their  way  to  Carthage  ;  and  Elissar  was  avenged. 

With  his  other  prey,  Genseric  carried  back  also 
the  Empress  Eudoxia  and  her  two  daughters,  Eudocia 
and  Placidia,  and  many  thousand  prisoners  for  sale. 
The  elder  daughter  Eudocia  he  gave  as  wife  to  his 
son  Hunneric  ;  he  also  demanded  and  received  from 
the  Emperor  Marcian  an  ample  dowry  for  her  as  the 
descendant  and  heiress  of  Theodosius,  After  long 
delay,  Eudoxia  and  Placidia,  who  was  the  wife  of 
a  Roman  senator,  were  surrendered  and  sent  to 
Constantinople.  The  miseries  of  the  prisoners  were 
alleviated  so  far  as  possible  by  the  noble  exertions 
of  the  Bishop,  Deogratias.  The  gold  and  silver  plate 
belonging  to  the  churches  was  sold,  to  purchase  the 
liberty  of  some,  and  food  and  medicines  for  others. 
The  churches  themselves  were  transformed  into 
hospitals. 

Of  the  general  character  of  the  Vandal  sway  in 
North  Africa  it  is  very  difficult  to  form  a  just  estimate. 
We  know  little  of  it,  except  from  those  who  suffered 
under  it,  and  whose  testimony  must  be  received 
with  caution.  The  mixed  multitude  which  crossed 
over  from  Africa  had  never  been  very  numerous — 
not  more  than  about  ninety  thousand,  including 
women  and  children,  and  many  of  these  must  have 


RES    ULTIMO  205 

fallen  or  been  left   on   the  way;  the  population   of 
Carthage  alone  outnumbered  them  four-  or  five-fold. 
The  soldiers  who  had  brought  their  wives  and  children 
with  them  had,  of  course,  to  be  provided  for  ;   doubt- 
less there  were  acts  of  violence  and  spoliation,  but  we 
do  not  read  of  any  wholesale  confiscation   of  land 
except  in  the  Proconsular  province  of  Africa — that  is, 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  Carthage.     It  is  certain  that 
the    Vandals    recognised    two    classes    of    occupiers  : 
Roman  or  civil,  who  paid  a  contribution  in  money  ; 
and  barbarian   or   military,   who    gave   nothing   but 
military  service.     Two  governments  existed  side  by 
side.     Over  the  Vandals  were  set  counts  and  inferior 
officers,  captains  of  thousands  and  of  hundreds,  who 
exercised   military    authority  in    time    of    war,    and 
civil  in  time  of  peace.     By  the  side   of  these,   the 
Roman  organisation  remained  almost  untouched.    The 
old   Imperial    laws  were  still   administered ;    Roman 
officials  collected  the  taxes ;    Roman  magistrates  still 
sat  in  the  cities.    The  Defensor  Civitatis  still  held  his 
tribunal,  and  appeals  were  still  made  to  the  Prcefositus 
judiciis   Romanis   in   Regno    Africce    Vandalorum,    at 
Carthage.     Except  for  the  dismantling  of  the  walls, 
the  cities  were  left  uninjured,   and  the  Vandals,  if 
they  built  nothing,   wantonly   destroyed   but    little. 
Certainly  they  made  no  deliberate  effort  to  wreck  the 
civilisation  they  found,  or  to  impose  their  manners 
and  customs  on  their  Roman  subjects.    They  held 
and  garrisoned  Africa,  and  expected  Africa  to  support 
them  in  return;  but  beyond  this,  the  Romans  seem 
to  have  suffered  little  at  their  hands.     The  coloni 
remained  much  what  they  had  been,  only  now  they 
worked  for  two  masters  instead  of  one.    The  moun- 
taineers, already  half  independent,  were  drafted  into 
the  army  or  manned  the  fleets. 


2o6  'TWIXT  SAND  AND   SEA 

One  exception  must  be  made  to  this.  For  many 
years  of  his  long  reign,  Genseric,  with  his  Donatist 
aUies,  was  a  relentless  persecutor  of  the  Church.  The 
bishops  were  banished,  the  churches  were  closed,  and 
doubtless  many  who  were  not  attacked  as  Romans 
suffered  severely  as  Christians,  or  rather  Churchmen. 
Yet  even  here  it  must  be  remembered  that  much  of 
the  reckless  destruction  of  churches  may  safely  be 
put  down  to  the  fury  of  the  Donatists.  Probably  the 
Church  did  not  suffer  more  severely  at  the  hands  of 
Genseric  than  the  Donatists  themselves  had  suffered 
under  Boniface. 

But,  as  so  often  happens  in  such  cases,  this  com- 
paratively tolerable  state  of  things  did  not  long 
survive  its  founder.  After  the  death  of  Genseric, 
A.D.  477,  the  natural  turbulence  of  the  wild  soldiery, 
the  jealous  quarrels  of  the  chiefs,  the  incursions  of 
the  nomads  from  the  desert  upon  the  unwalled  cities, 
the  brigandage  of  the  mountaineers,  and  the  ferocious 
persecution  of  the  Church  by  Hunneric,  soon  destroyed 
the  peace  and  good  understanding  between  the  various 
classes  of  the  inhabitants,  which  the  sagacious  policy 
and  firm  rule  of  Genseric  had  established.  Even  as 
far  as  distant  Tipasa,  the  unhappy  Churchmen  were 
pursued  by  the  unrelenting  and  brutal  savagery  of 
their  fellow-Christians,  whether  Arian  or  Donatist. 
It  was  in  the  Forum  of  Tipasa,  west  of  Algiers,  that 
the  one  miracle  was  worked  which  Gibbon  could 
neither  deny  nor  explain  away,  and  so  merely  sneered 
at,  when  Restitutus  and  the  other  confessors  spoke 
after  their  tongues  had  been  torn  out.^ 

Meanwhile  the  general  character  and  warlike  apti- 
tude of  the  Vandals  were  fast  declining.  It  was 
only  seventy  years  since  they  had  crossed  the  Rhine. 

^  Modern  science,  I  believe,  accepts  the  fact,  but  denies  the  miracle. 


RES    ULTIM.E  207 

but  already  the  heat  and  enervating  climate  of  their 
new  home,  and  the  still  more  demoralising  ease  and 
luxury  of  their  new  surroundings,  had  sapped  their 
strength  and  destroyed  the  hardy  virtues  of  the 
barbarian,  replacing  them  only  with  the  vices  of  a 
degraded  civilisation.  Moreover,  though  formidable 
when  collected  in  an  army,  the  smallness  of  their 
numbers  became  apparent  when  they  were  spread 
over  the  country  as  landed  proprietors.  The  kingdom 
of  the  Vandals,  built  up  in  a  day,  fell  into  ruins  in 
a  night.  In  a.d.  406  they  crossed  the  Rhine  ;  in 
A.D.  429  they  reached  Africa ;  in  a.d.  477  Genseric 
died ;  and  in  a.d.  533  Belisarius  landed. 

The  Byzantines 

Old  ideas,  conceptions,  habits  of  thought,  and 
claims  die  hard,  especially  if  they  minister  to  the 
pride  of  the  man  or  nation  who  entertains  them. 
The  mere  fact  that  they  have  ceased  to  be  true  has 
little  effect  beyond  that  of  rendering  them  more  dear, 
and  causing  them  to  be  more  fondly  and  obstinately 
cherished.  Men  and  nations  cling  to  the  remem- 
brance of  what  they  once  were,  partly  because  it 
is  hard  to  relinquish  the  flattering  memory,  and 
partly  because  there  is  always  the  possibility,  and 
with  it  the  vague  hope,  that  some  unexpected  turn  of 
the  wheel  of  fortune  may  bring  the  cherished  posses- 
sion within  reach  again  ;  and  then  the  fact  that  the 
claim  has  never  been  relinquished  makes  the  new 
conquest  more  like  the  revival  of  a  dormant  title 
than  the  creation  of  a  new.  The  fieurs-de-lys  of 
France  were  borne  on  the  royal  standard  of  England 
for  many  a  long  year  after  England's  last  possession 
in  France  was  gone. 


2o8  'TWIXT  SAND  AND   SEA 

Notably  has  this  been  always  the  case  with  Rome, 
Imperial  of  old  as  Papal  now.  Whatever  Rome  has 
once  become  possessed  of  by  force  of  arms  or  diplo- 
macy or  intrigue,  Rome  claims  for  ever,  however 
clearly  history  may  contradict  the  justice  of  the 
original  title  or  the  validity  of  the  new. 

In  the  year  a.d.  527  the  throne  of  Constantinople 
was  filled  by  a  Dacian  peasant  born  near  Sardica, 
the  modern  Sofia,  in  Bulgaria.  His  name  was  Up- 
rauda,  the  Upright,  or,  in  its  Latin  form,  Justinian. 
He  had  been  raised  to  the  purple  by  the  merits  of  his 
uncle  Justin,  who  in  a  long  military  service  of  more 
than  fifty  years,  had  risen  from  the  ranks,  through 
the  successive  grades  of  tribune,  count,  general,  until 
at  last,  at  the  age  of  sixty-eight  years,  he  was  elected 
Emperor.  After  an  uneventful  reign  of  nine  years, 
during  which  his  deficiencies  had  been  covered  by 
the  dihgence  and  abihty  of  the  Quaestor  Proclus,  he 
secured  the  succession  for  his  nephew,  whom  he  had 
brought  from  Dacia  and  educated  at  Constantinople. 

When  Justinian  ascended  the  throne,  the  dominions 
of  Rome  had  been  definitely  separated  into  the  two 
Empires  of  East  and  West  for  one  hundred  and  thirty 
years.  The  Western  Empire  had  long  ceased  to  be 
Roman,  even  in  name.  In  Italy  the  Goths  had  ruled 
for  fifty  years ;  in  Africa  the  Vandals  had  held  un- 
disputed sway  for  over  a  century.  All  this  was  fact, 
but  theory  did  not  tally  with  it.  Theoretically  the 
Empire  was  still  one,  undivided  and  indivisible.  The 
possessions  of  Old  Rome  had  become  those  of  New, 
automatically,  by  a  natural  and  indefeasible  right 
of  succession,  and  all  intruders,  whether  Goths  or 
Vandals,  were  usurpers,  to  be  expelled,  rightly  and 
justly,  whenever  opportunity  might  serve.  How 
nearly  Justinian  succeeded,  through  the  genius  and 


RES    ULTIMO  209 

unswerving  loyalty  of  his  great  general  Belisarius, 
in  enforcing  the  claim  and  reviving  the  dying  Empire 
of  Rome,  does  not  belong  to  our  subject  except  in 
so  far  as  Africa  is  concerned.  Suffice  it  to  say  that 
he  made  the  effort,  and,  in  making  it,  completed  the 
ruin  of  Roman  and  Christian  Africa,  if  not  of  Italy 
also. 

Justinian  had  not  long  to  wait  for  an  opportunity 
for  interfering  in  Africa.  The  throne  of  Genseric 
was  occupied  by  his  grandson,  Hilderic,  who,  through 
his  mother  Eudocia,  could  claim  descent  from  the 
Emperor  of  Rome  on  the  one  side  and  of  Constanti- 
nople on  the  other.  He  was  a  gentle,  cultured,  amiable 
man,  who  lacked  both  the  savagery  of  his  father^ 
Hunneric,  and  the  abihty  of  his  cousin  and  predecessor^ 
Thrasimund.  His  clemency  to  his  Catholic  subjects^ 
to  whom  he  granted  peace  and  freedom  of  worship^ 
was  at  once  his  glory  and  his  ruin.  The  Arian  clergy 
denounced  him  as  an  apostate,  an  accusation  to  which 
his  friendship  with  Justinian  lent  some  colour ;  while 
the  defeat  of  his  general,  or  Achilles,  by  a  rabble  of 
natives,  aroused  the  indignant  contempt  of  his  soldiers 
for  his  military  incapacity.  An  insurrection,  fomented 
and  headed  by  his  cousin  Gelimer,  broke  out.  Hilderic 
was  deposed  and  thrown  into  prison,  and  Gelimer,. 
whose  birth  and  military  fame  fitted  him  well  for  the 
post,  usurped  his  throne. 

On  this,  A.D.  231,  Tripoli  revolted,  and  invited 
the  help  of  Justinian  on  behalf  of  their  rightful  King. 
The  Emperor  at  once  espoused  the  cause  of  his  friend,, 
and  haughtily  warned  Gelimer  against  any  further 
!;  revolt,  at  the  risk  of  incurring  the  displeasure  of  God 
■  and  of  himself.  The  fierce  Vandal  replied  by  increas- 
ing the  rigour  of  Hilderic's  imprisonment,  and,  with 
mutual    protestations    of    sincere    desire    for    peace, 

o 


210  'TWIXT   SAND   AND   SEA 

"  according  to  the  practice/'  as  Gibbon  remarks,  "  of 
civilised  nations,"  each  side  prepared  for  war. 

The  command  of  the  Byzantine  forces  was  given 
by  Justinian  to  the  illustrious  Behsarius,  the  third 
Africanus,  one  of  the  greatest  generals  and  noblest 
men  in  all  history. 

BeUtzar,  the  "  White  Prince,"  to  give  him  his 
proper  name,  was  born,  says  Procopius,  "  in  Germania, 
between  Thrace  and  Illyria,"  not  very  far,  that  is, 
from  the  birthplace  of  the  Emperor  himself.  He 
served  \\ith  distinction  in  the  private  guard  of 
Justinian,  and,  when  his  patron  became  Emperor, 
was  promoted  to  military  command.  As  general  of 
the  East  he  had  won  renown  in  an  arduous  campaign 
against  the  Persians,  and  the  new-made  peace,  to 
w^hich  his  prowess  largely  contributed,  set  him  free 
for  an  even  more  difficult  and  important  operation. 

It  was  on  June  22nd,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  533, 
and  in  the  seventh  year  of  the  reign  of  Justinian,  that 
the  Byzantine  Armada  sailed  from  Constantinople 
for  Africa.  The  vessels  of  the  fleet  and  transport, 
six  hundred  in  number,  were  anchored  in  front  of  the 
palace  gardens,  where  they  were  reviewed  by  the 
Basileus  himself.  The  Patriarch,  surrounded  by  his 
clergy,  descended  to  the  port  to  pronounce  his  solemn 
benediction  on  the  army  as  it  started  on  its  new 
crusade.  Thus,  with  the  happiest  auspices,  Behsarius 
entered  on  the  campaign,  taking  with  him  as  his 
secretary,  his  Boswell,  Procopius,  the  future  historian 
of  the  war.  During  the  whole  of  the  three  months 
that  the  voyage  lasted,  not  a  single  Vandal  vessel 
was  sighted  which  might  carry  to  Carthage  the  news 
of  the  approach  of  the  army.  A  better  proof  of  the 
decay  of  Vandal  enterprise  could  hardly  be  imagined, 
for,  under  Genseric,  the  pirate  corsairs  of  Carthage 


RES    ULTIMO  211 

had  swept  the  Mediterranean.  Belisarius  landed  at 
Cape  Vada,  a  desolate  strip  of  beach  on  the  Tripoli 
border,  nine  days'  march  south  of  Carthage.  His 
advance  on  the  capital  was  a  triumphal  progress. 
The  natives  hailed  him,  as  they  had  the  Vandals, 
as  a  deliverer  from  a  foreign  despotism,  and  willingly 
supplied  the  troops  with  provisions ;  the  Church 
welcomed  him  as  a  saviour  from  savage  persecution  ; 
even  amongst  the  Arian  Vandals  there  were  many 
who  were  unwilling  to  fight  against  one  who  came, 
nominally  at  least,  to  the  succour  of  their  rightful 
King,  and  the  rest  were  utterly  unprepared  for  organ- 
ised resistance.  On  the  day  after  his  arrival,  the  little 
town  of  Sullecte  opened  her  gates  to  him  ;  the  more 
important  cities  of  Leptis  Magna,  now  a  vast  mass  of 
ruins  on  the  Oued  Lebda,  sixty  miles  west  of  Tripoli, 
and  Hadrumetum  (Sousse),  followed  her  example. 
Indeed  it  is  not  easy  to  see  what  else  they  could  have 
done,  for  the  Vandals  had  destroyed  their  walls  and 
fortifications.  Gelimer  could  not  come  to  their  assist- 
ance, for,  incredulous  as  to  the  coming  of  the  foe,  and 
ignorant  of  their  arrival,  he  needed  time  to  collect  his 
forces ;  above  all  he  wished,  if  possible,  not  to  risk 
a  battle  before  the  arrival  of  his  brother  Zano,  whom, 
with  his  seasoned  troops,  he  had  hurriedly  summoned 
from  Sardinia. 

And  so  Belisarius  was  able  to  advance,  cautiously 
indeed,  but  unhindered  and  unopposed,  leaving  behind 
him  a  country  quiet  and  content ;  men  went  about 
their  ordinary  business,  magistrates  administered  the 
old  laws,  only  in  the  new  name  of  Justinian.  It  was 
not  until  he  reached  the  tenth  milestone  from  Carthage 
C  Ad  Decimum ")  that  Behsarius  encountered  an 
enemy.  Here  at  last  Gelimer  fell  upon  him  furiously 
with  what  forces  he  could  muster,  and  so  fierce  was 


212  'TWIXT  SAND   AND  SEA 

the  onset  that  the  Greek  van  was  beaten  back,  and 
for  the  moment  the  issue  hung  in  the  balance.  Then 
the  fall  of  Ammatas,  brother  of  the  King,  and  a  charge 
of  the  picked  guard  led  by  the  general  in  person, 
restored  the  battle,  and  at  last  Gelimer  fled,  utterly 
routed,  towards  Numidia,  his  only  consolation  in  his 
fall  being  the  knowledge  that  his  last  orders  for  the 
murder  of  his  innocent  cousin,  Hilderic,  had  been 
punctually  carried  out. 

But,  however  comforting  to  him,  this  turned  to 
the  advantage  of  his  enemies ;  for  the  death  of  the 
King,  and  the  flight  of  the  usurper,  left  BeHsarius  free 
to  assume  supreme  command  in  the  name  of  Justinian. 
On  the  evening  after  the  victory  he  bivouacked  on 
the  field  of  battle,  and  on  the  morrow  he  entered 
Carthage.  Almost  at  the  same  moment  the  fleet 
arrived  and  anchored  in  the  Lake  of  Tunis.  On  the 
eve  of  St.  Cyprian's  Day,  September  14th,  the  defeat 
of  the  Vandals,  and  the  hberation  of  Africa  from  their 
yoke,  were  publicly  and  solemnly  proclaimed. 

The  first  task  of  Behsarius  was  to  strengthen  the 
fortifications  of  Carthage,  for,  though  the  walls  had 
not  been  destroyed,  they  had  never  been  repaired, 
and  a  hundred  years'  neglect  had  very  seriously  im- 
paired their  strength.  He  set  about  the  work  with 
the  amazing  energy  which  characterised  all  his  actions 
and  contributed  so  largely  to  his  success  ;  a  specimen 
of  his  work,  rude  and  strong,  can  still  be  seen  on  the 
south-west  corner  of  the  Castro  Pretorio  at  Rome. 

The  Vandal  army  had  been  dispersed  in  the  fight 
at  Ad  Decimum,  but  not  destroyed.  Zano  hurried 
home  from  Sardinia  and  joined  his  brother ;  and 
Gelimer,  collecting  once  more  his  scattered  forces, 
raised  his  standard  at  Bulla  Regia,  near  Souk-el-Arba, 
within    a    hundred    miles    of    Carthage.    Advancing 


RES    ULTIMO  213 

rapidly  on  the  city,  a  second  battle,  in  which  it  would 
almost  seem  that  Belisarius  allowed  himself  to  be 
surprised,  was  fought  at  Tricameron,  twenty  miles 
from  Carthage.  Zano  was  killed  and  the  Vandals 
again  defeated,  although,  judging  from  the  number 
of  the  killed,  it  does  not  seem  that  they  pushed  home 
their  attack  very  vigorously,  for  in  this  battle,  which 
ended  the  Vandal  rule  in  Africa,  no  more  than  fifty 
Greeks  and  eight  hundred  Vandals  fell.  This  time 
Gelimer  accepted  his  defeat  as  final ;  after  a  short 
flight,  he  surrendered  to  Pharas,  the  officer  sent  in 
pursuit  of  him,  and  was  taken  to  Constantinople. 
After  adorning  the  triumph  of  Behsarius,  he  was  given 
an  ample  estate  in  Galatia,  where  he  lived  and  died 
in  peace  and  obscurity. 

Thus  ended  the  Vandal  dynasty  in  Africa.  Within 
three  months  of  his  arrival,  Behsarius  was  able  to  send 
word  to  Justinian,  that  Africa  was  once  more  a  part 
of  the  Empire  of  Rome. 

Master  by  both  land  and  sea,  Behsarius  despatched 
the  fleet  along  the  coast  as  far  as  to  the  Pillars  of 
Hercules,  to  receive  the  submission  of  the  seaboard 
towns.  To  Sardinia  and  Corsica  he  sent  the  head 
of  Zano ;  the  argument  was  convincing,  and  the 
islands  submitted  :  the  pick  of  the  Vandal  soldiery 
he  deported  to  Constantinople,  where  they  were 
drafted  into  the  armies  of  the  East,  forming  five 
troops  known  by  the  name  of  Justiniani  Vandalici. 

Then  he  was  able  to  sheathe  his  sword,  and  turn 
to  the  work  of  organising  the  country  he  had  so 
victoriously  won.  This  he  did  with  consummate 
energy  and  skill.  Retaining  the  old  province  of 
Africa  in  his  own  hands,  he  sought  to  secure  its 
safety  by  surrounding  it  with  palatinates,  or  border 
provinces  under  dukes.     Two  of  these  he  estabHshed 


214  TWIXT  SAND  AND   SEA 

to  the  south  in  Leptis  and  TripoH,  two  to  the  west 
at  Cirta  and  Caesarea,  and  a  fifth  in  the  island  of 
Sardinia.  To  the  Church,  to  whom  his  victory  had 
given  peace,  he  restored  the  possessions  of  which  she 
had  been  stripped,  and  the  position  of  pre-eminence 
which  she  had  held  under  Roman  sway. 

Had  he  been  allowed  time  to  complete  his  work, 
and  to  consolidate  the  new  rule  with  the  moderation 
and  wisdom  with  which  he  had  founded  it,  the  end  of 
the  crusade  might  have  been  as  fortunate  as  its  begin- 
ning. Unhappily  this  was  not  to  be.  His  enemies  at 
home  were  more  dangerous  than  any  in  Africa,  and 
their  attacks  were  far  harder  to  repel.  The  chief  and 
most  formidable  of  these  was  Theodora,  actress,  har- 
lot, devotee,  and  Empress.  The  glory  of  his  success 
was  used  to  arouse  the  jealous  fears  of  Justinian, 
and  Belisarius  was  recalled,  almost  in  disgrace.  The 
loyal  promptitude  of  his  return  silenced  the  calumnies 
of  his  detractors,  and  he  was  granted  the  triumph  he 
had  so  nobly  earned.  It  was  the  first  that  Constanti- 
nople had  ever  seen,  and  the  first  granted  to  a  private 
individual  since  the  days  of  Tiberius.  Amongst  the 
spoil  carried  in  the  conqueror's  train  was  the  seven- 
branched  candlestick,  which  at  last,  after  its  wander- 
ings from  Jerusalem  to  Rome,  and  from  Rome  to 
Carthage,  found  a  resting-place  in  the  Church  of 
Jerusalem  at  Constantinople.  Since  then  it  has  been 
seen  no  more. 

The  history  of  Africa  has  no  surprises.  It  is  like  an 
old-fashioned  song — every  verse  has  new  words,  but 
the  tune  is  the  same.  With  that  unconquerable  love 
of  liberty  which  is  born  of  the  mountains  and  the  sea, 
the  natives  have  always  refused  to  accept  a  foreign 
yoke.  They  welcomed  the  Romans  as  deliverers  from 
the  Carthaginians,  the  Vandals  from  the  Romans,  the 


RES    ULTIMiE  215 

Byzantines  from  the  Vandals;  now  the  turn  of  the 
Byzantines  was  come.  Carthage  had  to  deal  with 
Syphax  or  Masinissa,  Rome  with  Tacfarinas  ^  and 
Jugurtha,  the  Arabs  with  Koceila  and  the  Kahenah, 
the  French  with  Abd-el-Kader,  Bou  Naza,  and  Bou 
Bagha.  Now  the  Byzantines  met  the  same  spirit 
in  labdas  and  Koutsina. 

For  the  moment  all  seemed  quiet,  but  beneath 
the  external  peace  the  whole  country  was  seething 
with  a  discontent,  which  needed  only  the  departure 
of  Belisarius  to  bring  it  to  the  surface  in  open  rebellion. 
Generations  of  luxury,  followed  by  a  century  of  sub- 
jection, had  fatally  sapped  the  vigour  of  the  Roman 
colonists,  and  there  remained  to  the  cities  neither 
the  defence  of  walls  and  bulwarks,  nor  the  better 
defence  of  stout  hearts  and  the  old  Roman  courage, 
to  save  them  from  the  wild  hordes  which  once  more 
swept  down  from  the  mountains  and  up  from  the 
desert. 

Overawed  for  the  moment  by  the  genius  of  Beli- 
sarius, and  recognising  that  in  a  measure  he  was  doing 
their  work,  the  natives  had  either  helped  him  or  at 
least  allowed  him  to  pass  unscathed ;  now  that  he 
was  gone,  recalled  almost  in  disgrace,  the  standard 
of  rebellion  was  at  once  raised.  A  soothsayer  or 
sorceress  had  promised  that  Africa  should  be  con- 
quered only  by  a  beardless  general,  and  close  inquiry 
had  shown  that  none  of  the  Byzantine  commanders 
satisfied  this  requirement.  No  sooner  was  Belisarius 
safely  on  his  way  home,  than  news  was  brought  him 
that  the  whole  of  the  Byzacene  (Tunisia)  and  of 
Numidia  was  in  a  blaze. 

'  This  African  Arminius  belonged  to  the  tribe  of  the  Musulamii,  south 
of  the  Aures.  He  was  able  to  hold  the  Roman  army  in  check  for  seven 
years,  a.d.  17  to  24.     Finally  he  was  killed  at  Aumale. 


2i6  'TWIXT  SAND  AND  SEA 

Belisarius  despatched  his  most  trusty  lieutenant 
to  deal  as  best  he  might  with  the  situation  ;  this  was 
the  eunuch  Solomon,  who,  strangely  enough,  satisfied 
the  requirement  of  the  Numidian  soothsayer. 

He  soon  had  his  hands  full,  for  he  had  against  him 
an  active  and  mobile  enemy,  fighting  in  and  for  their 
own  country,  an  enemy  whom  it  was  easy  to  defeat 
and  disperse,  but  impossible  to  conquer  or  permanently 
subdue.  Marching  into  the  Byzacene,  he  defeated 
them  at  Manme  ;  attacked  on  his  way  back,  he  turned 
upon  them  and  defeated  them  again  at  Burgeon  with- 
out losing  a  man,  and  so  reached  Carthage,  only  to 
hear  that  the  king,  labdas,  had  roused  Numidia  and 
was  destroying  the  towns.  It  was  then,  a.d.  535,  that 
Thamugadi  (Timgad)  was  wrecked  and  burnt. 

Of  the  splendid  thoroughness  and  dehberation 
with  which  Solomon  set  himself  to  protect  the  country 
by  refortifying  the  towns,  the  wonderful  system  of 
fortresses  which  still  stud  the  country  bears  testimony. 

Meanwhile  greater  troubles  were  brewing  in 
Carthage. 

Justinian,  like  other  men,  tried  to  run  his  wars 
and  colonies  on  business  principles,  and  make  them 
pay  their  way  ;  and  so  there  came  to  Africa  two 
Imperial  commissioners,  Tryphon  and  Eustratius,  to 
assess  and  collect  taxes,  and  these  men,  by  the  exor- 
bitance of  their  extortions,  soon  alienated  the  only 
loyal  portion  of  the  population. 

Again,  many  of  the  soldiers  had  married  Vandal 
women,  and  quietly  annexed  the  farms  ;  this  land 
was  now  claimed  for  the  Emperor  and  the  occupiers 
evicted. 

Religious  toleration,  as  distinct  from  indifference, 
is  but  little  understood  now ;  in  the  sixth  century  it 
was  undreamt   of,   and  after   a  century  of  ruthless 


RES    ULTIM.E  217 

persecution,  the  restored  Church  was  not  in  a  mood 
to  use  with  moderation  the  power  she  had  regained. 
As  against  the  Vandals  this  did  not  much  matter, 
but,  unfortunately,  in  the  army  of  Solomon  there  were 
some  four  thousand  Heruli  who  were  also  Arians,  and 
were  not  at  all  disposed  to  accept  the  alternative  of 
either  conforming  or  being  deprived  of  all  religious 
observances  whatever ;  Christmas  had  tried  their 
temper,  and  now  the  still  greater  festival  of  Easter 
was  approaching. 

To  crown  all  his  troubles,  four  hundred  of  the 
Vandal  horsemen  who  had  been  deported  by  Belisarius 
mutinied  at  Lesbos,  seized  a  vessel,  and  compelled  the 
captain  to  land  them  near  Carthage. 

A  plot  was  hatched  in  the  palace  to  murder  Solo- 
mon in  church  on  Easter  Day,  a.d.  536.  Through  a 
misunderstanding,  or,  as  Procopius  says,  "  restrained 
by  something  Divine,"  it  failed,  but  a  mutiny  broke 
out  amongst  the  troops,  which  desolated  Africa  for 
ten  years.  Solomon  was  compelled  to  take  sanctuary 
in  the  cathedral,  and  finally  to  escape  by  sea  to 
Syracuse,  to  invoke  the  aid  of  Behsarius. 

In  his  absence  the  mutineers  sacked  Carthage  and 
retired  to  Bule,  where  they  elected  Stotzas,  a  man 
of  great  capacity,  as  their  commander.  They  then 
returned  and  besieged  the  city  with  ten  thousand 
men. 

Belisarius  was  engaged  on  what  was  to  be  the 
crowning  exploit  of  his  wonderful  career,  the  conquest 
of  the  Gothic  kingdom  of  Italy  and  its  union  with 
the  Eastern  Empire  of  Constantinople.  He  had  but 
little  time  and  few  men  to  spare  ;  still,  he  could  not 
stand  calmly  on  one  side  and  see  the  ruin  of  his  work 
in  Africa.  With  a  handful  of  men  he  at  once  set  sail 
for  Carthage  with  Solomon.     He  arrived  in  the  night. 


2i8  'TWIXT   SAND    AND    SEA 

When,  in  the  morning,  the  news  of  his  coming  reached 
the  besieging  army,  the  magic  of  his  name  was  enough. 
Some  of  the  mutineers  returned  to  their  allegiance ; 
the  rest  raised  the  siege  and  precipitately  fled.  Get- 
ting together  a  force  of  two  thousand  men,  Behsarius 
started  in  hot  pursuit,  overtook  them  at  Membressa 
(Medjez-el-Bab)  and  inflicted  a  crushing  defeat. 
Stotzas  fled  into  Numidia,  and  Belisarius  returned 
to  Sicily,  leaving  two  of  his  officers,  Ildiger  and 
Theodorus,  in  charge  pending  the  arrival  of  Ger- 
manus,  nephew  of  the  Emperor,  whom  Justinian  sent 
as  Commander  in  Africa. 

Germanus  was  worthy  of  the  difficult  trust.  He 
took  up  at  once  the  pursuit  of  Stotzas,  defeated  him 
in  Numidia,  and  drove  him  back  into  Mauretania ; 
there,  protected  by  a  false  report  of  his  death,  he 
remained  in  peace,  married  the  daughter  of  a  local 
prince,  and,  for  a  time,  disappeared  from  history. 

But,  like  Belisarius,  Germanus  was  not  allowed  time 
to  finish  the  work  he  began  so  well.  After  a  couple  of 
years,  a.d.  539,  he  was  recalled,  and  the  chief  command 
given  once  more  to  Solomon,  who  again  showed  him- 
self unwise  and  weak  as  an  administrator,  though 
beyond  all  question  more  than  capable  as  a  soldier. 

In  the  following  year  two  of  his  nephews,  Cyrus 
and  Sergius,  sons  of  his  brother  Boccus,  came  out  to 
join  him,  and  were  most  unwisely  entrusted  with  the 
government  of  Pentapolis  and  Tripoli.  A  deputation 
of  eighty  Africans,  who  came  to  Leptis  to  tender  the 
submission  of  their  tribe,  were  treacherously  murdered 
by  Sergius,  at  a  banquet  given  in  their  honour,  and 
the  whole  country  rose  to  avenge  them.  Solomon 
hastened  from  Carthage  to  the  assistance  of  his 
nephew,  but  was  surprised  and  killed  in  battle  near 
Theveste  (Tebessa). 


RES   ULTIMO  219 

In  spite  of  the  indignant  protest  of  Antalas,  an 
African  chieftain  who,  after  fighting  vaHantly  against 
the  Vandals,  had  been  made  the  enemy  of  the  Greeks 
by  the  murder  of  his  brother,  Sergius  was  appointed 
Governor  in  the  place  of  his  uncle. 

The  universal  disgust  and  discontent  brought 
Stotzas  on  the  scene  again,  only,  however,  to  be 
defeated  and  killed  in  battle  by  the  hand  of  John, 
the  son  of  Sisimolus,  who  had  succeeded  Solomon. 
John  himself  was  killed,  a  few  days  afterwards,  by  a 
fall  from  his  horse. ^ 

Too  late,  Sergius  was  recalled,  and  Areobondas, 
a  weak  man,  unused  to  war  and  unskilful  in  affairs, 
was  made  Exarch  ;  his  incapacity  was  atoned  for  by 
his  marriage  with  the  niece  of  the  Emperor.  He 
came  only  to  be  murdered  by  the  chief  of  his  guard, 
Gontharis,  who  himself  was  murdered  by  Artaban 
after  a  reign  of  thirty  days.  Artaban,  an  Armenian 
prince,  rebelled,  was  first  imprisoned,  then  pardoned, 
and  finally  entrusted  with  the  command  of  the  troops 
despatched  to  Italy,  and  distinguished  himself  in  the 
war  in  Sicily. 

After  the  death  of  Gontharis,  another  John,  "  the 
brother  of  Pappas,"  was  appointed  Governor,  a.d.  545. 
He  succeeded  in  tranquillising  Africa,  and,  with  the 
help  of  the  native  chief,  Koutsina,  repulsed  an  inroad 
of  the  Leucathians  from  Tripoli ;  and  so,  at  last,  says 
Procopius,  the  Africans,  ''  being  very  few  in  number 
and  very  poor,"  had  a  time  of  peace. 

But  these  continued  and  devastating  wars  were 
fast  reducing  the  unhappy  country  to  a  desert.  The 
Vandals,  who,  it  is  estimated,  numbered  one  hundred 

1  This  is  the  account  given  by  Procopius  (ii.  i8),  who  adds  that  John  and 
Stotzas  were  personal  enemies.  According  to  Gibbon  {vide  p.  202),  John  was 
killed  by  Stotzas  ;  according  to  Corippus,  by  the  standard-bearer  of  Stotzas. 


220  'TWIXT    SAND    AND   SEA 

and  sixty  thousand  men  who  drew  the  sword,  be- 
sides women  and  children,  had  been  annihilated ;  the 
number  of  natives  who  had  fallen  in  the  truceless 
and  merdless  war  was  far  larger,  and  to  these  must 
be  added  the  Romans  and  Byzantines  who  had  been 
slain  in  the  savage  reprisals  of  a  desperate  foe. 

When  Procopius  landed  near  Tripoli  with  Beli- 
sarius,  and  marched  with  him  through  Byzacene  to 
Carthage,  he  spoke  with  admiration  of  the  populous 
cities,  the  teeming  countryside,  the  commerce,  the 
industries,  of  which  he  saw  proofs  on  all  sides.  In 
twenty  years  the  whole  of  that  busy  scene  had  been 
reduced  to  silent  solitude.  The  numbers  who  fell 
have  been  estimated  at  five  millions,  and  neither 
Gibbon  nor  any  other  historian  has  seen  reason  to 
consider  this  an  exaggeration.  For  a  hundred  years 
longer  the  Greek  Emperors  maintained  a  nominal 
empire  over  an  Africa  which  had  shrunk  until  it 
included  little  more  than  Carthage,  a  few  cities,  and 
a  fringe  of  territory  near  the  sea.  Then  the  flood 
of  Arab  invasion  burst  in,  and  the  sun  of  the  mighty 
dynasty  of  Rome  in  Africa  set  for  ever.^ 

^  The  occupation  of  North  Africa  by  the  Byzantines  was  not  effective 
except  in  the  east.  In  the  west,  in  South  Algeria  and  Morocco,  strong  Berber 
states  seem  to  have  sprung  up.  The  immense  Djedar,  or  Tombs,  near 
Tiaret  (one  is  150  ft.  high)  testify  to  a  stable  rule  and  a  considerable 
advance  in  both  civilisation  and  prosperity. 


CHAPTER    XIII 

A   BYZANTINE    FORTRESS 

Tebessa 

Very  wonderful  are  the  Roman  ruins,  the  cadavera 
oppidum,  which  He  scattered  broadcast  over  Tunisia, 
and,  in  a  lesser  degree,  Algeria  also.  But  they  are  the  re- 
sult of  a  settled  occupation  extending  over  a  period  of 
some  two  or  three  hundred  years.  Even  more  extraordi- 
nary are  the  numberless  fortresses  which  the  Byzantines 
erected  in  little  more  than  one-tenth  of  that  time. 

The  Vandals  had  destroyed  the  defences  of  the 
cities,  and  this  ruin  it  was  that  the  Byzantines  set  them- 
selves to  remedy.  To  rebuild  the  walls  in  the  time 
at  their  disposal  was  manifestly  impossible ;  equally 
impossible  was  it  to  leave  the  cities  defenceless ; 
for  no  place  was  safe  from  attack  unless  it  was  able 
to  resist  it.  To  be  even  moderately  secure  from  con- 
tinual forays,  the  whole  country  had  to  be  studded 
with  fortresses ;  and  this  was  done.  It  is  hard 
to  find  the  remains  of  any  considerable  town  or 
village  without  its  Byzantine  fortress.  Many  of 
these  strongholds  exist  still ;  a  few  are  to-day  in  use 
for  their  original  purposes.  The  Arab  towns  of  Tebessa 
and  Mila,  and  the  French  camps  at  Guelma  and  Setif, 
are  still  sheltered  by  the  old  Greek  walls.  Strong,  stern, 
and  business-like,  hardly  injured  by  their  life  of  fifteen 
centuries,  they  give  an  exalted  opinion  of  the  military 
skill  of  their  architects  and  of  the  thoroughness  of 
their  work. 


222  'TWIXT    SAND   AND   SEA 


Where  it  was  possible,  existing  buildings  were 
utilised  and  adapted  to  their  new  uses.  At  Sufetula 
(Sbeitla)  the  vast  enceinte  of  the  Capitol  was  made 
the  nucleus  of  the  defences  of  the  city ;  little  was 
needed  here  except  to  block  up  the  openings  in  the 
walls,  and  make  embrasures.  Other  buildings  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  the  great  temple  were  turned  into 
subsidiary  redoubts.  In  the  same  way  the  smaller 
Capitol  at  Dougga  became  the  keep  of  an  enceinte 
which  shut  in  the  town.  At  Tebessa  a  large  part^ 
of  the  city  was  re-walled,  and  a  great  monastery 
close  by  was  converted  into  a  cavalry  barrack. 
At  Ammoedara  (Haidra),  in  addition  to  a  very 
important  fortress,  a  splendid  triumphal  arch  was 
enclosed  with  walls  and  made  a  detached  keep. 
Elsewhere,  as  at  Thubursicum  Bure  (Teboursouk), 
although  the  fortress  was  new,  two  triumphal  arches 
were  incorporated  in  the  walls. 

For  the  most  part,  the  buildings  were  very  much 
on  the  same  plan  :  a  quadrangle,  more  or  less  ex- 
tended and  regular,  with  lofty  towers  at  the  angles, 
projecting  outwards,  not  inwards,  as  with  the  Roman 
work  at  Lambsesis  (Lambessa).  Other  towers  pro- 
tected the  walls  at  intervals,  and  flanked  the  gates ; 
the  walls  were  thick  enough  to  allow  of  a  pathway 
protected  by  battlements,  and  approached  by  stair- 
cases leaning  against  the  wall,  being  carried  along 
the  top.  The  interior  was  occupied  with  the  various 
buildings  needed  by  the  soldiers,  especially  a  church, 
without  which  no  Byzantine  fortress  was  complete. 

One  other  thing  they  all  have  in  common  :  they 
were  built  of  old  materials.  The  Byzantines  had 
neither  time  nor  money  to  quarry  new.  Nor  was 
it  necessary.    The  stones  were  there  ready  to  be  used. 

^  Probably  about  one-third. 


!^P 


A    BYZANTINE    FORTRESS  223 

There  was  no  need  to  imitate  the  Barberini,  worse 
than  the  Barbari,  and  many  another  Roman  Pope 
or  noble,  and  destroy  temple  or  colosseum  in  order 
to  steal  the  stones  or  marbles.  The  old  Pagan 
temples  were  in  ruins,  the  Donatists  had  wrecked 
the  Christian  churches,  the  Vandals  had  pulled  down 
the  city  walls — all  the  necessary  materials  were  there, 
ready  at  hand. 

The  most  perfect  detached  fortress,  for  the  defence 
of  an  unwalled  city,  is  that  at  Ammoedara  (Haidra).  It 
stands  on  the  southern  slope  of  a  steep  hill,  and  rests 
upon  the  bank  of  a  perennial  stream,  the  Oued  Haidra. 
The  river  was  crossed  by  a  bridge  of  a  single  arch  of 
a  hundred  feet  span.  The  river  wall  was  restored 
in  the  nineteenth  century.  The  form  of  the  fortress 
was  a  very  irregular  quadrangle  of  about  one  hundred 
and  twenty  yards  by  two  hundred  and  twenty.  The 
wall  was  strengthened  with  ten  towers,  all  square 
except  one,  which  was  round.  There  were  several 
gates:  the  most  important,  namely,  the  great 
entrance  from  the  north,  and  the  water-gate  to 
the  south,  were  protected  with  towers;  others  were 
mere  unprotected  posterns.  As  usual,  a  pathway  ran 
along  the  whole  circuit  of  the  walls,  as  at  Chester. 
Against  the  western  wall  stood  the  church ;  it  con- 
sisted of  a  nave  and  aisles.  The  porch  was  flanked 
by  a  lofty  tower.  A  large  space  on  the  north-east 
corner,  the  only  angle  where  there  was  no  tower, 
was  partly,  if  not  entirely,  roofed  in,  and  served  as 
the  Pretorium  or  Forum  or  market — possibly  as  all 
three. 

The  fortress  which  defended  Timgad,  though  not 
so  large,  is  almost  equally  perfect,  and  much  more 
accessible. 

More   important    and   perfect   still,    a   testimony 


224  'TWIXT   SAND   AND   SEA 

to  its  strategical  value,  is  the  walled  city  of  Theveste 
(Tebessa)  on  the  southern  slope  of  the  Aures.  It 
was  the  first  place  fortified  by  the  Third  Legion,  to 
protect  the  line  of  communication  between  the  Hodra 
and  the  sea.  Rebuilt  in  a.d.  535  by  the  eunuch 
Solomon,  it  is  still  strongly  garrisoned  by  the  French. 
On  this  point  all  the  great  roads  converge,  from 
Lambaesis  and  Mascula  (Khenchela)  to  the  west, 
from  the  desert  to  the  south,  from  Haidra  and  Central 
Tunisia  to  the  east,  from  Carthage  and  Cirta  through 
Thagaste  (South  Ahras)  and  Madauros  (Mdaourouch) 
to  the  north. 

From  the  very  first,  even  after  the  headquarters 
of  the  Legion  had  been  moved  to  Lambsesis,  its  im- 
portance has  remained  but  little  impaired.  Standing 
at  a  height  of  3000  feet  above  the  sea  on  the  gentle 
slopes  of  the  still  wooded  mountains  of  the  Aures, 
it  commands  a  vast  upland  plain,  once  of  great 
fertility,  which  stretches  in  a  great  semicircle  to  the 
north-east  and  north-west.  To-day  its  chief  exports 
are  halfa  (esparto  grass)  and  phosphates,  immense 
deposits  of  which  have  been  discovered  in  the  hills 
between  it  and  Haidra. 

The  journey  by  the  light  railway  which  runs 
from  Thagaste  (South  Ahras)  to  Tebessa  is  interesting 
and,  in  parts,  beautiful.  For  the  first  few  miles  the 
little  train  winds  on  and  up  through  the  gorge  of 
the  Medjerba,  between  lofty  rocks  clothed  with  oaks, 
elms,  and  cork  trees,  with  occasional  grassy  hollows, 
a  pleasant  change  from  the  arid,  treeless  wastes  to 
which  the  traveller  is  accustomed.  A  run,  or  saunter, 
of  twenty  miles  brings  us  to  Mdaourouch,  and  the  open 
plain  begins.  To  the  left,  at  a  distance  of  about 
three  miles,  lie  the  important  ruins  of  Madauros, 
the  birthplace  of  the   satirist  Apuleius;    a  beautiful 


■ 


A    BYZANTINE    FORTRESS  225 

Roman  mausoleum,  the  remains  of  vast  thermae, 
and  of  a  great  Byzantine  fortress,  still  mark  the  spot. 
Here  the  river  dwindles  to  a  rivulet,  and  the  rivulet 
to  a  trickle,  and  at  last  vanishes.  We  have  reached 
the  watershed,  and  soon  another  trickle  tells  us  that 
we  are  by  the  source  of  the  Mellegue.  Then  the 
line,  after  passing  the  considerable  ruins  of  another 
town,  not  yet  identified,  runs  round  the  base  of  some 
strange  splintered  mountain  crags  which  rise  abruptly 
from  the  plain.  The  summit  of  one  of  them  is  pierced 
by  a  curious  circular  hole,  Hke  that  at  Torghatten,  in 
Norway. 

At  last,  at  the  foot  of  the  wooded  range  of  the 
Aures,  Tebessa  comes  in  sight,  lonely  and  forsaken 
in  its  great  circle  of  walls,  hke  the  desolate  little 
town  of  Aigues  Mortes  from  which  St.  Louis  sailed 
on  his  last  crusade,  to  die  at  Tunis. 

The  town  itself  is  a  shabby  little  place,  but  its- 
monuments  are  of  profound  interest.  Chief  amongst 
them  are  the  great  encircling  walls  which  Solomon 
erected  for  its  defence.  The  part  enclosed,  like 
Timgad,  which  is  of  almost  the  same  size,  is  nearly 
a  square,  three  hundred  and  sixty  yards  by  three 
hundred  and  ten.  The  walls,  which  average  thirty 
to  thirty-three  feet  in  height  and  seven  feet  in  thick- 
ness, are  strengthened  by  fourteen  towers  of  an 
average  height  of  fifty-five  to  sixty  feet ;  the  pro- 
tected footway  which  runs  along  the  top  is  reached,, 
as  usual,  by  staircases  built  against  the  wall.  The 
south  wall  has,  in  part,  been  built  upon  the  scena 
of  the  theatre.  The  pulpitum  still  remains  almost 
uninjured  ;  upon  it  are  heaped  huge  drums  of  the 
marble  columns. 

There  are  three  gates.     That  in  the  north  wall,, 
known    as   the    Old   Gate,    the   Bab-el-Khedima,   is- 

P 


226  'TWIXT   SAND    AND    SEA 

formed  by  the  splendid  arch  of  Caracalla.  Over 
our  heads  as  we  pass  through  it  into  the  town  is  an 
inscription  which  relates  how  Solomon,  "  the  most 
glorious  and  very  excellent  Master  of  the  Soldiers, 
Prsefect  of  Libya  and  Patrician,"  built  the  wall  and 
fortified  the  city.  He  was  himself  killed  in  battle 
in  the  neighbourhood.  Another  inscription  in  the 
interior  of  the  arch  records  that  it  was  erected  in 
accordance  with  the  will  of  Cornelius  Egrilianus, 
at  a  cost  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  ses- 
terces (£2680).  In  the  east  wall  a  curiously  narrow 
machicolated  gateway,  flanked  by  two  boldly  pro- 
jecting towers,  bears  the  name  of  Solomon.  To  the 
west  the  Constantine  Gate  led  to  the  circus.  The 
main  thoroughfare  lay  between  these  gates.  The 
south  wall  has  no  opening.  It  has  been  calculated 
that  the  work  of  erecting  the  wall  and  towers  would 
occupy  eight  hundred  men  for  two  years. 

There  is  no  trace  of  any  fosse  or  moat.  Evidently 
the  builders  considered  that  such  walls  were  a  suffi- 
cient defence  against  any  attack  that  the  wild  tribes 
might  be  able  to  make  upon  the  town. 

Just  inside  the  walls,  and  close  to  the  Old  Gate, 
is  the  Temple  of  Minerva — so  called.  The  Naos, 
resting  on  a  lofty  podium,  and  approached  by  a 
flight  of  twenty  steps,  is  very  perfect.  In  date  and 
beauty  it  lies  between  the  austere  little  Temple 
of  Fortuna  Virilis  at  Rome  and  the  lovely  Maison 
Carrie  at  Nimes,  to  which  it  is  frequently  compared. 
In  style  it  is  tetrastyle  pseudo-pteripteral  stylobate; 
that  is,  it  rests  upon  a  platform,  and  has  four  pillars 
in  front,  which  are  not  continued  round  the  cella 
except  as  engaged  pilasters.  Round  the  Naos  runs 
an  architrave,  divided  into  square  panels  and  deco- 
rated with   ox-heads   and   eagles   with   outstretched 


A   BYZANTINE    FORTRESS  227 

wings  holding  serpents  in  their  claws.  The  attic 
is  somewhat  heavily  carved  with  garlands,  cornu- 
copias, trophies,  masks,  images  of  gods.  Victories, 
and  so  on.  The  pediment  and  roof,  if  they  ever 
existed,  have  perished.  The  building  has  been  put 
to  strange  uses.  In  turns  a  soap  manufactory,  an 
office  of  the  engineers,  a  tribunal  for  the  Moslems  (now 
installed  in  the  neighbouring  buildings),  a  canteen,  a 
miUtary  club,  and  a  church,  it  is  now  a  museum. 

Leaving  the  town  by  the  Old  Gate,  a  long, 
straight,  dusty  road,  hned  with  trees,  seems  to 
stretch  out  into  infinity.  Following  it  for  some  six 
hundred  yards,  we  come  to  the  ruins  of  the  great 
monastery,  the  most  important  ecclesiastical  monu- 
ment in  North  Africa.  The  day  was  hot  and  the 
sky  cloudless.  The  natives  whom  we  met  coming 
into  the  town  with  their  laden  donkeys,  or  passed 
sitting  in  the  sun  at  the  door  of  their  gourbis,  re- 
garded us  with  the  solemn,  silent  scrutiny  which  is 
all  they  commonly  vouchsafe  to  infidels,  unless  there 
is  money  to  be  made.  Happily  for  us,  they  were  too 
lazy  or  too  distrustful  of  their  French,  to  press  their 
services  upon  us  as  guides,  and  so,  in  a  peace  which 
was  as  dehghtful  as  it  was  unusual,  we  reached  the 
vast  mass  of  grey  ruins  w^hich  we  had  come  so  far 
to  see.^ 

It  lay  to  the  left  of  the  road,  surrounded  by  a 
desolate  plain  stretching  to  the  desolate  mountains, 
itself  more  desolate  even  than  they. 

What  must  have  been  once  a  grand  monumental 
gateway   opens    upon   a  broad   terrace   about   sixty 

^  After  careful  examination  of  the  ruins,  the  account  given  in  the  text 
seems  to  be  the  most  satisfactory.  Some  writers,  however,  are  of  opinion 
that  the  "Cloister"  was  a  market,  the  four  "squares"  pens  for  cattle,  and 
the  "'Refectory  "  always  and  only  a  stable. 


228  'TWIXT    SAND    AND    SEA 

yards  long  ;  to  the  left  lies  the  cloister,  to  the  right 
the  church.  The  terrace  is  closed  by  a  second  gate- 
way ;  passing  through  this,  we  find  to  our  left  the 
refectory,  to  our  right  the  other  monastic  buildings. 
The  whole  was  enclosed  by  a  wall,  strengthened  by 
seven  towers,  projecting  inwards.  Against  the  wall, 
as  well  as  against  the  church,  were  built  the  cells  of 
the  monks. 

The  cloister  ran  round  three  sides  of  a  square, 
at  a  height  of  about  six  feet  above  the  ground  ;  along 
the  fourth  side  ran  the  terrace  and  the  facade  of  the 
church.  The  garth,  as  we  should  call  it  in  England, 
was  divided  into  four  by  two  paths  which  intersected 
in  the  middle.  It  appears  that  these  four  squares 
were  basins  which  could  be  flooded,  at  any  rate  during 
the  great  heats  of  the  summer. 

On  the  other  side  of  the  terrace,  a  flight  of  fourteen 
steps  led  up  to  the  pillared  portico  of  the  great 
church.  Through  this  we  pass  into  the  atrium, 
surrounded  by  a  colonnade.  In  the  centre  was  a 
quatrefoil  fountain  with  pillars  supporting  a  dome. 
To  the  right  a  doorway  leads  into  the  baptistery. 
Elsewhere,  especially  at  Timgad,  the  baptistery  forms 
a  very  important  and  beautiful  feature  of  the  church. 
Here  it  has  been  reduced,  by  exigencies  of  space, 
to  little  more  than  a  passage,  with  a  tiny  circular 
font  not  more  than  five  feet  in  diameter. 

From  the  atrium  three  gateways  open  into  the 
church,  which  is  of  grand  proportions.  The  nave  is 
separated  from  its  aisles  by  an  arcade  of  ten  arches 
resting  upon  square  piers  in  front  of  which  were 
marble  columns.  Above  this  a  similar  arcade  opened 
upon  a  gallery,  as  at  St.  Agnese  at  Rome.  Above 
this  rose  the  clerestory. 

The  last  three  bays  of  the  nave,  enclosed  by  a 


'i  ^ 


i 

I 


A   BYZANTINE   FORTRESS  229 

cancellus,  or  screen,  formed  the  sanctuary,  in  the 
middle  of  which,  resting  on  a  step  or  platform  which 
still  remains,  stood  the  altar,  probably  of  wood. 
Beyond  the  nave,  two  lateral  flights  of  three  steps 
led  to  the  semicircular  apse  or  presbytery.  Round 
this  were  ranged  the  seats  for  the  chapter,  with  the 
throne  for  the  bishop  in  the  centre.  It  is  the  usual 
basilican  arrangement,  similar  to  that  at  Torcello, 
so  nobly  pictured  by  Ruskin  in  his  Stones  of  Venice. 
Other  even  more  familiar  examples  are  to  be  found 
in  St.  Ambrogio  at  Milan  or  St.  Clemente  at  Rome. 

The  mosaic  floor  of  the  church,  though,  now,  terribly 
damaged,  must  have  been  of  very  great  beauty,  and 
if,  as  M.  Alb.  Ballu  believes,  the  walls  and  vaulting 
were  also  enriched  with  marble  panelling  and  mosaics, 
the  effect  must  have  been  extremely  rich. 

On  the  right-hand  side,  on  entering  the  church,  a 
broad  flight  of  twelve  steps  led  down  into  a  beautiful 
trefoiled  chapel  or  trichorum  similar  to  that  in  the 
Damous-el-Karita  at  Carthage.  Many  tombs  have 
been  found  in  it,  some  below,  others  several  feet 
above,  the  original  mosaic  floor  of  the  chapel.  One 
of  these,  a  flne  sarcophagus  of  marble,  now  forms  the 
high  altar  of  the  modern  church  ;  another,  as  the 
inscription  tells  us,  was  the  tomb  of  Bishop  Palladius, 
who  died  a.d.  488.  As  at  Carthage,  the  name  of 
the  saint  to  whom  this  beautiful  chapel  was  dedi- 
cated is  unknown.  Doubtless  he  was  buried  in  the 
centre,  beneath  the  altar. 

To  the  right  a  large  room  or  sacristy  runs  parallel 
to  the  atrium,  leaving,  as  already  said,  a  very  narrow 
space  between  the  two  for  the  baptistery. 

All  these  buildings  belong  to  the  fourth  century. 
At  the  close  of  that  century,  Augustine,  who  had 
become  acquainted  with  the  monastic  life  at  Milan, 


230  'TWIXT    SAND    AND    SEA 

built  a  little  cell  for  himself  and  his  friends  Alypius 
and  Evodius  on  an  estate  of  his  own  at  Thagaste 
(Souk  Ahras).  Afterwards  he  founded  the  first 
monastery  in  Africa  at  Hippo ;  and  at  about  the 
same  time — that  is,  early  in  the  fifth  century — mon- 
astic buildings  began  to  gather  round  the  basihca 
at  Theveste.  Cells  for  the  monks  were  built  against 
the  walls  of  the  church,  as  in  the  Temple  of  Solomon, 
and  then  was  built  also  the  great  hall  or  refectory 
which  ran  by  the  side  of  the  cloister. 

If,  on  entering  the  monastery  through  the  great 
gateway,  instead  of  turning  to  the  left  into  the 
cloister,  or  to  the  right  into  the  church,  we  pass  on 
through  the  second  gateway  beyond,  we  find  on 
our  left  a  vast  and  very  splendid  hall  extending  the 
whole  length  of  the  cloister — that  is,  about  one  hun- 
dred and  eighty  feet.  Two  rows  of  arches  resting  on 
square  piers  divided  it  into  three  equal  aisles.  From 
each  of  the  sides,  ten  walls  ran  out  to  a  distance 
of  six  feet,  thus  dividing  this  part  of  the  hall  into 
cubicles  or  cells.  All  this  suggests  that  the  building 
was  a  refectory  or  library  or  conversorium — perhaps 
all  three. 

Down  the  middle  of  each  of  the  side  aisles  runs 
a  low  wall  about  three  feet  high,  divided  into  par- 
titions of  about  three  feet  by  upright  stones  of  the 
same  height :  these  were  kept  in  their  places  by  a 
course  of  stones  resting  upon  the  top,  and  stretching 
from  one  to  the  other.  The  space  between  these 
uprights  is  hollowed  out  into  a  trough  or  manger  ; 
and  through  the  edge  of  the  uprights,  sometimes 
through  the  mangers  also,  holes  have  been  pierced, 
worn  smooth  on  the  inside  by  the  friction  of  the 
ropes  or  halters.  There  are  eighty  of  these  stalls ; 
forty  on  each  side. 


A   BYZANTINE    FORTRESS  231 

That  these  are  stalls  for  horses  is  clear :  a  pre- 
cisely similar  arrangement  is  to  be  found  in  a  house 
at  Timgad.  But  it  is  hard  to  believe  that  the 
hall  was  built  as  a  stable.  If  it  was  not,  when 
and  by  whom  were  the  alterations  made  ?  Every- 
thing seems  to  support  the  view  that  it  was  the 
work  of  the  Byzantines.  Tebessa,  like  Timgad,  was 
a  stronghold  of  the  Donatists,  and  when  Solomon 
came  in  a.d.  535,  he  doubtless  found  the  monastery 
deserted  and  in  ruins.  As  he  rebuilt  the  walls  of  the 
town,  and  made  it  once  more  a  fortress,  so  he  turned 
the  ruined  monastery  into  a  cavalry  barrack.  The 
basilica  he  respected,  and,  as  it  was  too  ruinous  to 
use,  and  too  large  to  restore,  he  erected  a  3mall  church 
by  the  side  of  the  tref oiled  chapel.  The  refectory 
he  utilised  as  a  stable,  the  cells  of  the  monks  as 
barracks  for  his  soldiers. 

Although  not  so  neglected  and  unknown  as  some 
other  places  we  visited,  Tebessa  lies  well  off  the  beaten 
track  of  the  ordinary  tourist.  The  garrison,  con- 
sisting of  native  soldiers,  brings  a  certain  number 
of  French  officers  and  a  larger  number  of  French 
merchants ;  moreover,  the  trade  in  phosphates  and 
halfa  is  in  French  hands ;  but,  beyond  those  who 
are  brought  by  business,  there  are  few  foreigners, 
save  a  devoted  band  of  EngHsh  lady  missionaries, 
who  occupy  a  pretty  little  house  outside  the  walls. 
They  are  working  wisely  as  well  as  zealously,  chiefly, 
but  by  no  means  only,  amongst  the  women  and 
children,  French  as  well  as  native.  They  are  on  good 
terms  with  the  Roman  priest,  as  well  as  with  the 
Mohammedan  authorities,  who  seem  glad  that  their 
gentle,  civilising  influence  should  penetrate  into  their 
homes,  even  though  it  comes  from  Rouama,  or 
Christians. 


CHAPTER    XIV 

RASSOUL  ALLAH,   a.d.   622-1453 

It  is  said  that  Schiller  once  thought  of  taking 
Mohammed  as  the  subject  of  a  tragedy,  treating 
him,  as  Browning  did  Paracelsus,  and  George  EHot 
Savonarola,  as  a  man  who  began  with  an  honest 
enthusiasm  and  faith  in  himself  and  in  his  mission, 
but  was  driven  on,  step  by  step,  by  the  force  of 
circumstances  and  the  pressure  of  unwise  followers, 
into  extremes  which  he  never  contemplated,  and 
which  make  it  hard  to  decide  whether  he  deceived 
others  only  or  himself  also. 

In  any  case,  it  is  clear  that  the  idea  of  a  universal 
religion,  and  of  a  world  evangelised  by  fire  and  sword, 
was  never  dreamt  of  by  Mohammed.  He  began 
simply  as  a  reformer.  There  was  nothing  new  about 
him,  except  his  enthusiasm  for  the  old.  His  heart 
was  stirred  when  he  saw  his  people  given  up  to 
idolatry.  His  rejection  at  Mecca  embittered  him, 
and  the  weapons  used  against  him,  to  drive  him  out, 
were  the  only  ones  by  which  he  could  secure  his  return. 
Far  from  receiving  the  new  evangel  with  enthusiasm, 
the  Arabs  yielded  reluctantly,  and  under  compulsion, 
and,  on  the  death  of  the  Prophet  in  a.d.  632,  rose 
at  once  in  revolt  against  his  successor. 

Mohammed  left  no  son,  and  the  people  of  Medina 
elected  Abou  Bekr,  father  of  his  favourite  wife, 
Ayishah,  to  fill  the  vacant  post,  under  the  title  of 
Khalifah  or  Successor.  To  combat  the  rebellious 
tribes,  Abou  Bekr  formed  his  followers  into  a  regular 


RASSOUL   ALLAH  233 

army,  and  crushed  the  insurrection.  Realising  that 
the  simplest  and  surest  way  of  ensuring  the  supremacy 
of  Islam  was  to  employ  the  wild,  unruly  warriors 
elsewhere,  he  launched  them  upon  the  decaying 
empires  of  Constantinople  and  Persia,  "  torn  to 
pieces  by  war,  enervated  by  luxury,  and  gangrened 
with  corruption."  The  congenial  employment  of 
fighting,  and  the  prospect  of  booty  in  this  world 
and  paradise  in  the  next,  repaid  the  Arabs  for  their 
submission  to  the  Law  and  Prophet  of  Mecca. 

On  August  22,  A.D.  634,  the  day  of  the  fall  of 
Damascus,  Abou  Bekr  died.  Omar  ibn  al  Khattab, 
father  of  the  Prophet's  third  wife,  Hafsah,  succeeded 
him.  He  was  the  first  to  offer  prayers  openly  at 
the  Kaaba,  and  to  collect  the  Prophet's  scattered 
writings  into  the  Koran.  His  declaration  of  policy 
on  his  election  deserves  to  be  repeated.  "  By  God, 
he  that  is  weakest  among  you  shall  be  in  my  sight 
the  strongest  until  I  have  vindicated  for  him  his 
rights,  but  him  that  is  strongest  will  I  treat  as  weakest 
until  he  complies  with  the  laws."  To  him  was  due 
the  great  spread  of  Islamism.  His  generals  drove 
the  Greeks  out  of  Syria  and  Phoenicia,  and  by  the 
conquest  of  al-Iragan,  completed  the  overthrow  of 
the  Empire  of  Persia.  At  the  same  time  Amr  ibn  al 
Asi  conquered  Egypt,  with  the  aid  of  the  Coptic 
Christians,  and  signalised  his  victory  by  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  priceless  library  at  Alexandria.  "  If  these 
books  contradict  the  Koran,  they  are  false;  if  they 
agree  with  it,  they  are  useless."  The  argument  was 
unanswerable,  and  the  books  were  burnt. 

Omar  was  murdered  in  a.h.  23  (a.d.  644).  His 
dying  words  are  his  best  epitaph  :  "  It  had  gone  hard 
with  my  soul  if  I  had  not  been  a  Moslem." 

Masters  of  Egypt,  with  an  appetite  which  grew 


234  'TWIXT   SAND   AND    SEA 

by  eating,  the  wild  hordes  pressed  on  triumphantly 
to  the  Maghreb  with  a  zeal  in  which  religion  had 
but  little  place.  Their  forays  were  conducted  with 
the  savagery  which  came  naturally  to  them,  but 
there  was  none  of  that  fanatical  hatred  of  Chris- 
tianity which  the  bigotry  of  the  Turks  has  taught 
us  to  associate  with  Islamism ;  each  tribe  they 
attacked  was  perfectly  free  to  resist,  or  to  adopt 
Islamism,  or  to  pay  tribute. 

The  Berbers,  as  they  now  began  to  be  called, 
had  never  been  remarkable  for  the  strength  of  their 
religious  convictions,  though  they  occasionally  showed 
themselves  capable  of  an  exalted  enthusiasm  for 
some  congenial  heresy  or  schism.  Perhaps  it  would 
be  more  true  to  say  that  they  were  wilhng  to  adopt 
any  religion  outwardly,  as  long  as,  under  its  shield, 
they  were  able  to  preserve  the  traditional  faith,  and, 
in  part  at  least,  the  traditional  rites  of  their  fore- 
fathers. The  religion  of  Rome  had  been  easily 
absorbed.  Hammon  became  Saturn,  and  Tanith 
Coelestis.  Then  had  come  Christianity  with  its 
alluring  doctrine  that  within  the  fold  there  was 
to  be  **  neither  barbarian,  Scythian,  bond  nor  free," 
and  its  supreme  attraction  that  it  was  considered  to 
represent  disloyalty  to  the  Emperor.  But  the  quiet 
sobriety  of  the  Catholic  faith  had  never  possessed 
such  charms  for  them  as  the  violent  extremes  of 
Montanism,  and  the  wild  extravagances  of  Donatism 
and  of  the  Circumcelliones.  Then  had  appeared  the 
Vandals,  and  their  easy  Arianism  was  a  welcome 
change  from  what  had  become  the  official  religion 
of  their  Roman  masters.  Finally  the  Byzantine  in- 
vaders had  brought  back  orthodoxy  and  striven  to 
enforce  it  with  most  unwise  severity. 

Paganism,     Catholicism,     Montanism,     Donatism, 


RASSOUL   ALLAH  235 

Arianism,  Orthodoxy — each  in  turn  had  been  taught 
as  jQnal  and  complete  truth.  What  wonder  if,  be- 
wildered and  perplexed,  the  Berbers  bowed  to  each 
just  so  far  as  necessary,  and  clung  quietly  and  faith- 
fully to  their  old  beliefs — as  they  cling  still. 

In  the  seventh  century,  the  Arianism  of  the  Van- 
dals, on  the  whole,  held  the  ground,  and  between 
this  and  Islam  the  differences  were  not  vital.  Both 
agreed  in  the  first  half  of  the  great  confession  of 
faith :  "La  ilaha  ill  Allah,"  "  There  is  no  God, 
or  Divinity,  but  God."  The  second  half  was 
of  secondary  importance :  "  Mohammed  Rassoul 
Allah,"  "  Mohammed  is  the  prophet  or  apostle  of 
God."  With  regard  to  the  first  half,  the  way  was 
made  very  easy.  In  the  Koran  composed  by  the 
King-Prophet,  Qalih'  ben  T'arif,  for  the  use  of  the 
Borghouata  Berbers,  the  name  of  God  appears,  not  as 
Allah,  but  as  lakouch,  or  Bakouch.  Thus,  '^  In  the 
name  of  Allah,"  appears  as  "  Bism  en  lakouch,"  and 
the  great  formula,  "  Allah  Akbar,"  "God  is  great,"  is 
rendered  "Mok'k'ah  lakouch,"  and  so  on.  And  this 
continued  until  the  destruction  of  the  tribe  in  the 
eleventh  century.^ 

Nor  was  this  all.  Islamism  practised  the  great 
doctrine  of  the  equality  of  all  men  within  the  fold, 
which  Christianity  had  contented  itself  with  teaching. 
Every  Moslem  was  a  free  man,  could  hold  property, 
and  was  exempt  from  taxation.  Race  privileges, 
class  distinctions,  aHen  landlordism,  government  by 
foreigners,  imperial  taxation,  all  were  swept  away  ; 
while  unlimited  booty  and  glory  were  offered  freely 

^  The  origin  of  this  name  is  obscure,  but  it  is  safe  to  say  that  it  is  neither 
Moslem,  Christian,  nor  Jewish,  but  belongs  to  some  older  and  native  re- 
ligion. On  the  subject  of  the  possible  identification  of  lakouch  with  the 
Libyan  cavalier  god  and  the  Greek  lacchus,  vide  Part  II.,  Chapter  II.,  and 
the  references  given  there. 


236  'TWIXT    SAND    AND    SEA 

to  all  who,  under  the  Prophet's  banner,  would  march 
to  the  pillage  of  Europe. 

Still,  the  resistance  of  the  Berbers  to  the  Arab 
invasion  was  desperate  and  prolonged,  and  we  are 
told  that  *'  they  apostatised  twelve  times."  Even 
now  the  Mohammedanism  of  the  mountaineers  of 
the  Aures  and  Djurdjura  is  of  a  very  free  and  un- 
orthodox type,  and  they  have  always  dealt  with  the 
civil  regulations  of  the  Koran  exactly  as  they  have 
chosen. 

On  the  murder  of  Omar,  Othman  ibn  Affan,  the 
husband  of  two  of  the  Prophet's  daughters,  was 
elected  Khalifah,  against  the  vehement  protest  of 
Ali,  the  Prophet's  adopted  son,  and  the  husband  of 
his  daughter  Fatimah,  one  of  the  four  perfect  women, 
and  the  only  one  through  whom  the  direct  descent 
from  the  Prophet  was  maintained.  But  Othman 
had  been  elected  by  the  six  emigrants  appointed  for 
the  purpose  by  Omar,  and  all  opposition  was  in  vain  ; 
but  the  dissensions  between  the  two  led  eventually 
to  the  division  of  Islam  into  the  two  great  sects  of 
"Sunnis,"  or  ''Those  of  the  Path,"  and  "  Shi'ahs," 
or  "  Followers  "  of  Ali. 

In  the  year  of  Othman's  succession,  a.d.  644, 
Amr  ibn  el  Asi  seized  Tripoli.  Three  years  later, 
A.D.  647,  under  the  command  of  Abd  Allah  ibn  ez 
Zobeir,  the  Arab  host  poured  into  Ifrikya,  through 
the  south  of  Tunisia.  The  Prefect  Gregory,  or 
Djoredjir,  as  the  Arabs  called  him — much  as  the 
Spaniards  called  Hawkins  Achines,  or  Drake  Draco 
— had  declared  his  independence  of  Constantinople, 
and  assumed  the  purple.^ 

The  battle  which  practically  ended  the  Byzantine 

^  At  least  so  we  may  assume,  since   the   historian  Theophanes   gives 
him  the  title  of"  Turannos." 


RASSOUL   ALLAH  237 

rule  was  fought  near  Sufetula  (Sbeitla) ;  Gregory 
was  completely  defeated  and  killed,  and  Sbeitla  was 
taken  and  sacked.  "  The  daughter  of  Djoredjir  had 
accompanied  him,  and  was  amongst  the  prisoners  : 
she  fell  to  the  lot  of  a  man  of  Medina.  '  For  the 
future,*  said  he;  as  he  lifted  her  on  a  camel, '  you  will 
have  to  walk  a-foot,  and  wait  on  other  women.' 
*  What  is  the  dog  saying  ?  '  she  asked.  When  she 
was  told;  she  threw  herself  from  the  camel  and  was 
killed."  ^  The  natives  took  no  part  in  the  battle, 
but  stood  beholding. 

The  surrounding  towns  purchased  immunity  with 
a  heavy  ransom  :  no  surer  way  could  have  been 
devised  of  inviting  fresh  inroads  than  this  of  pro- 
claiming that  they  were  rich  enough  to  pay,  but  too 
cowardly  to  fight.  However,  for  the  moment  it 
succeeded,  Abd  Allah  retired  with  his  booty,  and 
the  land  had  peace  for  thirty  years.  The  causes  of 
this  interval  of  rest  are  not  far  to  seek. 

Things  were  not  going  well  at  headquarters.  In 
a  religion  which  has  done  almost  as  much  to  degrade 
women  as  Christianity  has  done  to  raise  them,  it  is 
interesting  to  note  that  the  cause  of  the  trouble  seems 
to  have  been  the  intrigues  of  a  woman. 

In  his  old  age  Mohammed  had  fallen  completely 
under  the  influence  of  his  favourite  wife,  Ayishah, 
daughter  of  Abou  Bekr,  whom  he  had  married 
when  she  was  only  nine  years  old.  An  "  injusta 
noverca,"  with  a  childless  woman's  unreasoning 
jealousy  of  the  more  fortunate  Fatimah,  she  seems 
to  have  set  herself  at  every  turn  to  exclude  Ali  and 
his    sons    Hassan    and   Husein   from   the    Khalifate. 

^  The  sentences  printed  in  inverted  commas  in  this  chapter  are,  for  the 
most  part,  condensed  from  the  summaries  of  the  chronicles  given  by  Victor 
Piquet  in  his  CiviHsatio7is  de  VAfrique  dii  Nord, 


238  'TWIXT   SAND    AND    SEA  * 

Hitherto  she  had  succeeded,  but  when,  in  due 
course,  a.d.  655,  Othman  also  was  murdered  by  her 
own  brother  Mohammed,  AH  became  the  obvious, 
if  not  the  only,  candidate,  and  was  duly  elected  at 
Medina.  In  furious  anger  Ayishah  fled  to  Damascus, 
taking  with  her  the  blood-stained  cloak  of  Othman, 
to  which  she  fastened  the  fingers  of  his  wife,  the 
daughter  of  the  Prophet,  who  had  been  murdered 
with  him.  Boldly,  and  not  without  some  reason, 
accusing  Ali  of,  at  least,  complicity  in  the  double 
murder,  she  stirred  up  the  Governor  of  Damascus, 
Othman  ben  Mu'awiyah,  of  the  family  of  Omaiyah, 
to  revolt  and  proclaim  himself  Khalifah.  Othman 
needed  little  pressing.  After  some  inconclusive  arbi- 
tration, war  was  declared,  and  Ali  was  defeated  and 
murdered,  a.d.  661.  His  son  Hassan,  elected  as  his 
successor,  had  the  wisdom  to  decline  the  dangerous 
honour,  and  retired  to  Medina.^  This,  however,  did 
not  save  him  from  being  also  murdered  by  Yazed,  son 
of  Mu'awiyah  ;   as  was  also  his  brother  Husein. 

In  twenty-eight  years  four  out  of  five  Khalifahs 
had  been  murdered,  the  authentic  line  of  Perfect 
Khalifahs  was  extinguished,  and  the  direct  line  of 
descent  from  the  Prophet  cut  short.  Damascus  became 
the  capital  instead  of  Mecca,  and  Mu'awiyah  founded 
there  the  hereditary  dynasty  of  the  Omeiades.  His 
followers  adopted  and  practically  usurped  the  name 
of  Sunnites,  leaving  to  the  followers  of  Ali  the  name 
of  Shi'ahs.  It  has  been  computed  that  now  the 
Sunnites  number  one  hundred  and  forty-five  millions, 
and  the  Shi'ahs  fifteen. 

From  this  period  date  some  of  the  main  trunk 
schisms  of  Islam  : — 

^  It  is   for  this  reason  that,  in  the  picture  of  the   Perfect  Khalifahs, 
Hassan  is  represented  on  foot,  and  with  no  title  of"  Sidi"  like  the  rest. 


RASSOUL   ALLAH  239 

The  SuNNiTES,  "  They  of  the  Path,"  or  Orthodox, 
a  name  identified  with  the  Omeiades.  They  took  their 
name  from  Othman  ibn  Affan,  of  the  family  of  Beni 
Omeia  :  it  was  to  this  family  that  the  Khahfahs  of 
Damascus  belonged. 

Shi'ahs,  or  "  Followers,"  of  AH.  These  rejected 
all  Imans  (they  do  not  use  the  word  Khahfah)  except 
the  direct  descendants  of  Mohammed  through  Ali 
and  Fatimah. 

They  acknowledged  twelve  Imans.  The  last, 
Mohammed,  son  of  Al  Hasan  al  Askari,  disappeared 
mysteriously  down  a  well  in  the  courtyard  of  a  house 
at  Hillah  near  Baghdad,  whence  he  will  return  again 
to  be  the  Mahdi  or  Guide,  who,  as  the  Prophet  fore- 
told, will  appear  before  the  Day  of  Judgment. 

Kharedjites,  or  Dissenters.  These  were  the  sol- 
diers of  Ali  who  deserted  him  when  he  submitted 
his  claim  to  arbitration.  They  recognised  only  the 
first  three  Khahfahs.  The  Berbers  adopted  this  form 
of  schism  in  a  body. 

OuAHBiTES,  a  name  of  the  Kharedjites,  from  the 
chief  Abd  Allah  ben  Ouahb. 

These  were  divided  into  two  other  sects — 

Ibadites,  from  their  founder,  Abd  Allah  ben 
Ibad;  and 

SoFRiTES,  from  their  founder,  Abd  Allah  ben 
Sofar. 

Other  sects  will  emerge  as  we  go  on.  Amongst 
the  seventy-three  sects  of  Islam,  thirty-two  are 
assigned  to  the  Shi'ahs. 

Now  that  these  domestic  differences  had  been 
adjusted,  the  attack  on  North  Africa  began  again. 
In  A.D.  678  (a.h.  46),  Okba  ibn  Nafi,  the  fiercest 
of  all  Moslem  fighters,  was  launched  against  the 
Byzacene.     "  Marching   against   the   country   of   the 


240  'TWIXT   SAND   AND    SEA 

Ouezzan,  Okba  cut  off  an  ear  of  their  chief,  saying 
to  him,  *  It  is  a  reminder  ;  when  you  put  your  hand 
to  your  ear  you  will  remember  that  it  is  not  well 
to  fight  against  Arabs.'  Then  Okba  overran  the 
Fezzan,  and  reached  the  country  of  the  Harouar  ; 
he  cut  off  a  finger  of  their  chief,  as  a  reminder,  and 
imposed  a  tribute  of  360  slaves."  Stopped  in  his 
advance  to  the  west  by  the  sand,  "  he  returned  to 
the  country  of  the  Harouar,  whom  he  found  sleeping 
in  their  underground  dwellings.  He  cut  the  throats 
of  all  the  men  of  war,  seized  their  children  and  riches, 
and  went  his  way." 

Another  swarm  of  Arabs  under  the  command  of 
Maouia  ben  Hadaidj  advanced  north,  and  attacked 
Djohera  (Hadrumetum  or  Sousse).  "  The  Emperor 
of  the  East  sent  thirty  thousand  soldiers  to  defend 
the  country  :  they  landed  at  Djohera.  Maouia 
marched  against  the  place,  and,  when  he  arrived 
in  sight  of  the  ramparts,  alighted  from  his  horse, 
and  offered  certain  prayers  before  his  troops.  The 
Byzantines  were  at  first  filled  with  astonishment,  I 
then  they  advanced  against  the  Moslems.  Maouia 
was  still  prostrate  on  the  ground  when  the  first 
infidels  approached ;  then  he  mounted  his  horse 
and  charged  the  enemy,  whom  he  cut  to  pieces.  The 
soldiers  of  Byzantium  then  re-embarked." 

Okba  was  invested  by  the  Khalifah  with  the 
government  of  the  new  province ;  he  conquered 
Byzacene,  and  founded  Kairouan  on  the  spot  where 
Sidi  Sahab,  one  of  the  "  Associates  "  of  the  Prophet, 
had  been  buried ;  thus  for  the  first  time  the  Arabs 
had  a  settlement  in  the  new  country. 

But  as  yet  their  foothold  was  very  insecure.  The 
Byzantines  were  conquered,  and  the  Berbers  had, 
as   usual,   watched   the   conflict   with   a   benevolent 


RASSOUL   ALLAH  241 

aloofness  and  unconcern.  Now  their  turn  was  coming, 
and  they  at  once  prepared  for  a  desperate  resistance. 
Okba  had  been  recalled  by  the  Khalifah  and  replaced 
by  one  of  his  rivals,  El  Mohadjer,  who  began  his 
work  by  destroying  Okba's  resting-place  or  Caravan. 
In  A.D.  680,  Okba  was  reinstated  by  Yezid,  son  of 
Mu'awiyah,  returned,  rebuilt  Kairouan,  and  started 
on  a  wild  marauding  foray  to  the  west ;  dragging 
with  him  El  Mohadjer  in  chains.  Against  the  forti- 
fied towns,  Tabessa,  Timgad,  and  the  rest,  his  fury  was 
spent  in  vain,  but  he  fell  upon  the  great  tribe  of  the 
Aoureba  and  exterminated  it,  and  carried  away  captive 
in  his  train  the  King,  Koceila.  Contrary  to  the  advice 
of  El  Mohadjer,  he  treated  him  with  characteristic  inso- 
lence. One  day  he  set  him  to  kill  a  sheep.  Seeing  him 
wipe  his  bloody  hand  on  his  beard,  he  demanded  what 
he  meant.  "Nothing,"  was  the  answer;  "it  is  good 
for  the  hair."  At  last,  "  arriving  on  the  shore  of  the 
ocean,  he  raised  the  standard  of  the  Prophet,  and,, 
making  it  follow  the  course  of  the  sun  from  its  rising 
to  its  setting,  he  dashed  into  the  waves  up  to  his 
horse's  chest,  crying,  '  God  of  Mohammed,  if  I  were 
not  stopped  by  the  waves  of  this  sea,  I  would  go  even 
to  the  most  distant  land,  to  bear  the  glory  of  Thy 
Name,  to  fight  for  Thy  religion,  and  to  destroy  all 
who  will  not  believe  on  Thee.'  " 

Then  he  turned,  to  fight  his  way  back  again  as 
best  he  might.  He  reached  the  Hodna  in  safety. 
There  he  divided  his  forces.  The  main  body,  with  the 
booty,  he  sent  forward  by  the  road  which  ran  through 
the  still  fertile  plains  to  the  north  of  the  Aures.  He 
himself,  with  three  hundred  men,  followed  the  track 
through  the  Ziban  and  the  oases  which  fringe  the 
southern  slopes  of  the  mountains.  Koceila  seized 
I  the  opportunity,   made   his    escape,  and    raised   the 


242  TWIXT   SAND   AND    SEA 

country — the  Greek  inhabitants  of  the  towns  making, 
for  the  first  time  in  history,  common  cause  with  the 
natives. 

With  such  forces  as  he  could  thus  hastily  muster, 
Koceila  dashed  south,  probably  through  the  great 
gorge  of  El  Kantara,  came  upon  his  enemy  at  Tahouda 
near  Biskra,  and  overwhelmed  him  and  all  his  little 
band.  Okba's  end  was  a  worthy  one.  It  is  said  that 
when  he  found  himself  faced  by  the  alternative  of  flight 
or  death,  he  struck  with  his  own  hands  the  fetters  off 
the  limbs  of  El  Mohadjer,  and  bade  him  escape.  He 
refused,  and  the  two  rivals,  drawing  their  scimitars 
and  breaking  the  scabbards,  fell  side  by  side.  This 
was  in  the  year  a.d.  682.  A  typical  Moslem  apostle 
and  saint,  he  still  lies  near  the  spot  where  he  fell,  in 
the  mosque  of  the  little  town  which  bears  his  name, 
and  which  his  holiness  has  made  ever  since  a  place 
of  pilgrimage  only  less  important  than  Kairouan 
itself.  His  epitaph  can  still  be  read.  It  is  written 
in  early  Kufic  characters,  and  is  probably  the  oldest 
Arabic  inscription  in  the  world.  "  This  is  the  tomb 
of  Okba,  son  of  Nafi — may  God  have  mercy  on 
him." 

His  death  marks  the  recovery  of  Berber  inde- 
pendence. Koceila  made  himself  master  of  the  whole 
country,  and  again  destroyed  Kairouan. 

In  A.D.  698  Kairouan  was  rebuilt  by  the  Governor 
of  Egypt.  However,  he  was  driven  back  and  killed, 
and  Ifrikya  was  once  more  clear  of  the  Arabs. 

It  was  not   until    the    year   a.d.   720   (a.h.   98), 
that  '*  the  Lord  strengthened  the  hands  of  Hassan, ; 
Governor  of  Egypt,"  to  finally  subdue  the  country. 
For  the  fourth  time  Kairouan  was  rebuilt,  and  Hassan , 
marched   against    Carthage.    By    a   dashing    attack, 
the  walls  were  scaled,  and  the  city  taken  and  sacked ; 


RASSOUL   ALLAH  243 

I  on  the   approach,  however,   of  the  Byzantine  fleet, 
under  the  command  of  John  the  Patrician,  the  Arabs 
I  evacuated  the  city  and  returned  to  Kairouan,  where 
they  wintered.     Next  year  they  received  strong  re- 
inforcements and  advanced   again.     This   time   John 
found  himself  overmatched.     He  withdrew  to  Utica, 
I  whence,    after    sustaining    a    severe    defeat,    he    re- 
embarked  for  Constantinople.     This  time  Hassan  made 
I  sure  of  his  prey,   and  for   a  second  time  Carthage 
I  was  levelled  to  the  ground.     Tunis  was  built  with 
|i  its  stones  and  adorned  with  its  marble  pillars.    What- 
I  ever  was  left  above  ground  was  carried  away  in  after 
i  years  ;   it  is  said  that  the  cathedral  at  Pisa  was  built 
I  with  some  of  the  stones.    The  great  harbours  were  filled 
I  up  and  completely  obliterated  ;   until  a  few  years  ago 
their  very  position  was  a  matter  of  guess-work  and 
j  tradition.     vSo  ended  European  rule  in  North  Africa. 
I        But  the  real  work  had  still  to  be  done.     Koceila,  the 
Berber  Caractacus,  had  fallen  in  battle  on  the  Medjerba, 
!  but  an  African  Boadicea  arose  to  take  his  place.    The 
name  of  this  famous  heroine  is  unknown  ;  she  is  always 
:  described  by  her  titles,  Dahiah  or  Queen,  and  Kahenah 
[  or  Priestess.^    The  chronicler,  Ibn  Khaldoun,  tells  us 
that  she  belonged  to  the  Jewish  tribe  of  Djoraouah, 
:  but   she   was   certainly   a   Berber,   though   probably 
j  her  tribe  had  been  converted  to  Judaism.     She  was 
an  example  of  what  would  now  be  termed  a  Mara- 
'  bouta,  half  prophet  like  Deborah,  half  sorceress,  she 
;  wielded  a  power  which  was  all  the  stronger  because 
jits  foundations  were  mysterious  and  rested  on  the 
(supernatural. 

I       In  a  battle  fought  at  the  foot  of  the  Aures,  Hassan 
twas  completely  routed  and  driven  back  upon  Gabes. 

]       ^  She  is  described  as  daughter  of  Tabeta,  son  of  Enfale.     She  was 
^  Queen  of  the  Djoraouah,  a  Zenete  tribe  of  the  Aures. 


244  'TWIXT   SAND   AND   SEA 

Eighty  of  his  body-guard  were  taken  prisoners ;  with 
one  exception  the  Kahenah  sent  them  back  without 
ransom.  The  name  of  the  exception  was  "  Khaled, 
son  of  lezid,  of  the  tribe  of  Cais,  and  he  was  young 
and  beautiful.  '  I  have  never  seen/  said  she  to  him, 
*  so  goodly  a  youth  as  you.  I  wish  to  give  you  suck, 
that  you  may  become  the  son  of  the  Kahenah,  and 
the  brother  of  her  children.'  And  this  ceremony, 
which  amongst  the  Berbers  constitutes  adoption, 
took  place." 

Convinced  that  the  Arabs  were  fighting  only  for 
booty,  she  then  laid  desolate  the  whole  country 
between  Sfax  and  El  Djem,  where  she  fortified  herself 
in  the  vast  amphitheatre,  razed  the  cities,  destroyed  the 
cisterns  and  barrages,  and  burnt  the  forests  and  groves 
of  olives.  At  last,  a.d.  703,  after  five  years  of  desolat- 
ing warfare,  she  realised  that  further  resistance  was 
impossible.  Determined  herself  to  die  a  queen,  she 
had  prepared  her  sons  for  submission,  and  sent  them, 
with  Khaled,  into  the  camp  of  Hassan,  before  the  final 
battle.  Next  day  she  was  defeated  and  killed,  and 
her  head  was  sent  to  the  Khalifah,  Abd-el-Melek.^ 
"  Thus  the  freedom  of  Barbary  descended  into  its 
grave,  not  to  rise  again  on  the  third  morning,  or  the 
third  week,  or  the  third  year."  Whether  this  prediction 
was  fulfilled  remains  to  be  seen. 

Her  sons  passed  into  the  service  of  Hassan,  and 
when,  following  in  the  steps  of  Tarif,  who  has  given 
Gibraltar  its  name,  Mousa  ibn  Noceir  passed  over 
into  Spain,  they  marched  under  his  banner,  at  the 
head  of  twelve  thousand  Berbers,  and  helped  to  found 
the  Omeiade  kingdoms  of  Seville  and  Granada.     Thus, 

^  The  battle  in  which  the  Kahenah  was  killed,  was  fought  near  Mitoussa, 
between  Lambessa  and  Tebessa.  The  enemy  were  guided  and  commanded 
by  Khaled.     According  to  another  account,  her  head  was  thrown  into  a  well. 


RASSOUL    ALLAH  245 

at  the  expense  of  Spain,  an  interval  of  comparative 
peace  was  secured  for  Africa. 

The  rule  of  the  four  Perfect  KhaHfahs  had  been 
unostentatious  and  cheap ;  that  of  the  Omeiades 
was  brilUant  and  costly,  and  had  to  be  paid  for. 
Imperial  taxes  began  once  more  to  weigh  heavily 
on  Africa,  and  in  a.d.  720  Yezed,  the  governor,  en- 
forced upon  the  Moslem  taxes  which,  like  the  Kharadj, 
or  poll  tax,  were  due  from  infidels  only.  In  the 
midst  of  the  discontent  which  this  caused,  came  the 
Kharedjite  missionaries,  and  were  received  with 
enthusiasm.  It  was  sufficient  that,  as  their  name 
implied,  they  were  dissenters,  and  that,  in  the  eyes 
of  the  Berbers,  the  rejection  of  the  orthodoxy  of  the 
rulers  at  Kairouan,  was  a  sufficient  excuse  for  re- 
bellion against  their  authority.  In  addition  to  this, 
their  doctrines  were  as  acceptable  as  their  schism, 
for  they  united  the  harsh  morality  of  Tertullian 
with  the  separatism  of  the  Donatists  and  the  wild 
extravagances  of  the  Circumcelliones.  Revolt  began, 
and  soon  spread  over  the  whole  country.  In  a.d.  740 
it  required  the  whole  army  of  Egypt,  and  a  massacre, 
in  which  it  is  said  that  one  hundred  and  eighty 
thousand  Berbers  fell,  to  reduce  the  east  to  some- 
thing like  submission  ;  in  the  west,  the  two  principal 
sects  of  Kharedjites  succeeded  in  founding  independent 
states,  the  Ibadites  at  Tiaret,  in  the  Central  Maghreb 
"  el  Aougot,"  and  the  Sof rites  at  Sidgilmassa  (Tafilah), 
in  the  south  of  the  Western  Maghreb  "  el  Acsa."  ^ 

At  last,  his  patience  exhausted  by  these  continual 
excursions  and   alarms,  the    Khalifah   of   Baghdad,^ 

^  "Maghreb"  means  "west."  Roughly  speaking,  the  Maghreb  "el 
Acsa"  corresponds  with  Morocco,  the  Maghreb  "el  Aou^ot "  with 
Algeria,  and  "  Ifrikya  "  with  Tunisia. 

^  Baghdad  was  founded  by  the  Khalifah  Abd  er  Rahman,  and  made  his 
capital  A.D.  754  (a.h.  136). 


246  'TWIXT   SAND   AND    SEA 

Haroun-al-Raschid,  gave  the  whole  of  the  Maghreb 
as  a  fief  to  a  chief  of  Ifrikya,  Ibrahim  ibn  Aghled. 
Thus  was  founded  the  practically  independent 
dynasty  of  the  Aghlebites  at  Kairouan,  which  was  i 
able  to  maintain  itself  for  a  hundred  years  (a.d.  800- 
908),  sometimes  with  splendour,  always  with  success. 
Charlemagne  sent  ambassadors  to  Ibrahim,  and  they 
were  received  at  Kairouan  with  great  magnificence, 
and  to  his  successors  the  city  owes  its  finest  buildings  ; 
they  kept  a  standing  army  and  fleet,  with  which 
they  not  only  kept  the  peace  in  Ifrikya,  but  were 
able  also  to  conquer  Sicily.  In  their  home  policy 
they  made  a  serious  attempt  to  secure  justice  for  the 
poor,  and  to  save  them  from  oppression,  by  appoint- 
ing in  every  town  an  officer  whose  special  duty  was 
to  protect  the  common  people  from  the  tyranny  of 
the  great. 

In  the  Western  Maghreb  they  were  powerless 
either  to  subdue  the  two  Kharedjite  kingdoms  or  to 
prevent  the  foundation  of  another  at  Fez  by  the 
Edrissites,  a  sect  of  "  legitimists,"  who  recognised 
as  Khalifahs  only  the  direct  descendants  of  the 
Prophet  through  Edrei,  the  only  son  of  Ali  and 
Fatimah,  so  they  pretended,  who  escaped  the 
massacre  which,  in  the  ordinary  course,  followed 
the  murder  of  Ali  himself. 

To  make  confusion  worse  confounded,  there 
appeared  towards  the  close  of  the  ninth  century 
another  disturbing  element.  The  Shi'ahs  raised  the 
banner  of  a  new  Mahdi,  Obeid  Allah ;  and  his  lieu- 
tenant, Abou  Abd  Allah,  succeeded  without  much 
difficulty  in  converting,  or  at  least  raising,  the  whole 
of  the  powerful  Ketana  tribe,  which  occupied  the 
country  between  the  Aures  and  the  sea.  They 
were  soon  joined  by  the  Zouaoua  of  the  Djurdjura 


f  RASSOUL   ALLAH  247 

I  mountains,  and  the  Sanhadja  from  Southern  Tunisia. 

'  In  A.D.  908,  Abou  Abd  Allah,  at  the  head  of  a  hundred 
thousand  men,  marched  upon  Kairouan  and  defeated 

I  and  put  to  flight  Ziadet  Allah,  the  last  of  the  Aghle- 
bites.  Once  seated  on  the  throne  which  Abou  Abd 
Allah  had  won  for  him,  Obeid  Allah  soon  changed 

j:  the  part  of  an  apostle  for  that  of  a  despot.  He 
inaugurated  his  reign  by  murdering  Abou  Abd  Allah, 
and  then,  finding  the  atmosphere  of  Kairouan  too 
orthodox,   built   himself   a   new   capital    at    Mehdia, 

|i  on  the  site  of  an  old  Roman  town    whose  name  is 

I  uncertain ;    in  Froissart   it   appears  as   Africa.     His 

I  followers  were  known  as  Fatemites,  to  emphasise 
the  supposed  descent  from  Fatimah,  and  thus  was 

I  founded   a  dynasty  which  lasted   from   a.d.    909  to 

!  1171. 

}         Turning    his    arms   west,    he    overthrew   the   two 

i  Kharedjite  kingdoms  at  Sidjilmassa  and  Tiaret,  and 
received    the   submission   to   his    suzerainty   of    the 

'  Edrissites  of  Fez.  Then  he  died,  leaving  an  empire 
which  spread  from  the  Syrtes  to  the  very  heart  of  the 
Maghreb  el  Acsa,  or  Morocco. 

The  third  and  last  of  the  Fatemites  of  Africa 
proper  was  Abou  Temim  Maad  el  Mangour.  Under 
the  name  of  El  Moezz  ed-din  Allah,  "  He  who  exalts 
the  reHgion  of  God,"  he  conquered  Egypt,  and, 
deserting  Africa,  established  his  capital  at  the  new 
city  El  Kahira,  the  Victorious  (Cairo),  which  he  had 
founded,  and  where  the  Khotbah,  or  solemn  state 
prayer  offered  on  Friday  for  the  Commander  of  the 
Faithful,  was  said  in  the  mosques  in  his  name, 
A.D.  969. 

But  the  ascendancy  of  the  Katama  tribe  had  not 
remained  unchallenged.  The  tribe  of  the  Zenetes, 
who  occupied  the  whole  desert  fringe  of  North  Africa 


248  'TWIXT   SAND   AND    SEA 

from  Tripoli  to  the  meridian  of  Algiers,  had  remained 
faithful  to  the  old  Kharedjite  heresy.  Under  the 
leadership  of  a  Sofrite,  Abou  Yezed,  known  as  the 
Man  with  the  Ass,  they  overran  Ifrikya,  sacked 
Kairouan,  and  laid  siege  to  Mehdia  ;  it  was  by  his 
victory  over  them  that  Abou  Temin  Maad  won  his 
title  of  "El  Man^our,"  ''The  Victorious."  Foiled 
in  the  east,  they  turned  their  arms  towards  the  west, 
and  one  of  their  chieftains,  Ziri  ibn  Atia,  made  him- 
self master  of  Fez  and  Sidjilmassa,  and  established  a 
kingdom  there.  The  rest  of  North  Africa  remained 
faithful  to  the  Shi'ahs.  It  was  divided  into  two 
kingdoms,  one  of  the  East,  the  other  of  Central  Africa, 
with  its  capital  at  Bone — all  purely  Berber. 

At  the  close  of  the  tenth  century  El  Mangour 
gave  the  command  of  the  west  to  his  brother  Hammad, 
who  founded  an  important  city.  El  Kalaa,  the  Citadel, 
in  the  Hodna.  It  became  very  prosperous  in  the 
eleventh  century,  and  perished  in  the  twelfth ;  its 
ruins,  indistinct,  but  covering  a  vast  space  of  ground 
on  the  south  flank  of  the  Djebel  Tagarboust,^  testify 
to  its  former  grandeur. 

On  the  death  of  El  Mangour,  Hammad  repudiated 
the  authority  of  the  Fatemites,  came  to  terms  with 
the  Abbaside  Khalifahs  of  the  east,  and  founded  a 
kingdom  of  the  north,  which  extended  from  Tunis 
to  Algiers.  After  his  death  the  two  famiUes  made 
peace  and  reigned  each  in  his  respective  capital. 

Thus  ended  the  tenth  century. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  eleventh  century,  it  would 
seem  that  the  Arab  invasion  had  been  rolled  back, 
and  had  left  comparatively  few  traces  behind  it. 
In  place  of  a  vague  monotheistic  Christianity  the 
natives    professed    a    vague    monotheistic    Islamism. 

1  Between  Bordj  bou  Areridj  and  the  Chott-el-Hodna. 


RASSOUL   ALLAH  249 

Practically  they  went  their  own  way,  accepting  what- 
ever appealed  to  them,  so  long  as  it  was  not  the 
hated  orthodoxy  of  the  Omeiades.  The  whole 
country  was  for  the  first  time  since  the  Romans 
came,  perhaps  ever  since  Carthage  was  founded, 
essentially  Berber,  with  all  the  blessings  and  dis- 
advantages of  Home  Rule.  We  have  now  to  see 
how  the  Berbers  used  the  freedom  they  had  won  ; 
to  tell  of  the  new  flood  of  Arabs  which  overflowed 
the  land,  not  as  conquerors,  but  as  settlers  ;  to  trace 
the  rise  and  fall  of  the  great  Berber  kingdoms  of 
the  Middle  Ages,  wearing  themselves  and  one  another 
out  with  ceaseless  wars,  until  the  Turks  came  and 
destroyed  them  all.  The  whole  skein  is  tangled 
and  confused,  and  it  is  difiicult  indeed  to  be  coherent 
and  intelHgible  without  being  either  diffuse  or  in- 
complete. 

The  course  of  history  now  takes  us  far  to  the 
east.  In  the  Hedjaz,  a  desert  tract  of  Arabia,  dwelt 
two  wild  marauding  nomad  tribes,  known  as  the  Beni 
Hillal  and  the  Beni  Soleim,  who  lived  by  pillaging 
the  neighbouring  districts  of  Mecca  and  Medina. 
Unable  to  reduce  them  to  order,  the  Khalifah  of 
Baghdad  expelled  them  altogether  and  drove  them 
bodily  into  Egypt.  Experiencing  the  same  diffi- 
culties, the  Fatemite  Khahfah  of  Cairo  drove  them 
into  Upper  Egypt. 

Then  came  the  final  rupture  with  Africa  and 
El  Moezz  ibn  Badis,  who  ruled  in  Kairouan.  Ex- 
asperated at  an  outrage,  which  he  was  unable 
himself  to  punish,  the  Vizier  of  the  Khahfah,  El 
Mostancer,  sent  for  the  chiefs  of  the  Beni  Hillal,  and 
said :  ''  I  make  you  a  present  of  the  Maghreb,  the 
kingdom  of  El  Moezz  ibn  Badis  the  Sanhadjite,  a 
slave  who  had  rejected  the  authority  of  his  master. 


250  'TWIXT   SAND   AND   SEA 

For  the  future  you  will  want  for  nothing."  The 
Arabs  started  west,  a  mixed  multitude  of  men,  women, 
and  children  ;  nomad  brigands  gathered  round  them 
as  they  went ;  at  last  a  mob,  two  hundred  thousand 
strong,  of  whom  forty-five  thousand  were  warriors, 
poured  into  Africa.  They  advanced  like  a  swarm 
of  locusts ;  "  the  land  was  as  the  Garden  of  Eden 
before  them,  and  behind  them  a  desolate  wilderness." 
At  Gabes,  El  Moezz  met  them,  and  tried  in  vain  to 
bar  the  way.  Sweeping  him  before  them,  the  invaders 
pressed  on.  Kairouan  was  taken  and  sacked,  and 
they  poured  into  the  Maghreb.  They  were  not  con- 
querors, be  it  remembered,  but  a  swarm  of  miser- 
able hungry  creatures,  who  had  been  driven  from 
one  desert  to  another ;  they  took  what  they  could 
get  and  squatted  where  they  could.  Leaving  the 
mountainous  districts  untouched,  they  mixed  with 
and  degraded  the  prosperous  dwellers  on  the  plains, 
devastating  the  lands  and  destroying  the  cities  wher- 
ever they  went ;  and  thus  Africa,  which  Roman  skill 
and  perseverance  had  made  one  of  the  great  granaries 
of  the  world,  went  once  more  out  of  tillage,  and  fell 
back  into  prairie  and  desert.  For  the  first  time 
North  Africa  could  with  some  truth  be  called  Arab, 
a  "  Garden  of  Allah  " — that  is,  a  desert. 

From  the  north  came  a  new  trouble  for  the  dis- 
tracted Berbers.  In  the  year  a.d.  iioi  died  Roger 
d'Hauteville,  the  Norman  King  of  Sicily,  brother 
of  Robert  Guiscard.  In  A.D.  1143  his  son,  Roger  II., 
descended  upon  Djidjelli  and  destroyed  it.  In  A.D. 
1 146  he  seized  Tripoli.  It  was  a  time  of  terrible 
distress  and  famine  in  East  Africa — the  legacy  of 
the  Arabs.  "  Many  left  the  country  to  take  refuge 
in  Sicily ;  a  multitude  of  unfortunates  died  of 
famine ;    others   were   driven   to   eat   human   flesh." 


f 


RASSOUL   ALLAH  251 

The  opportunity  was  not  to  be  lost.  Roger  sailed  for 
Mehdia,  which  the  Khalifah  evacuated,  retiring  to 
Bougie;  Sousse  was  taken  without  resistance,  Sfax 
was  carried  by  assault,  and  "  soon  the  infidels  were 
masters  of  all  the  country  from  Tripoli  to  Tunis, 
and  from  the  sea  to  Kairouan." 

We  have  travelled  from  east  to  north,  from  the 
Hallal  of  Arabia  to  the  Normans  of  France.  Now 
we  have  to  travel  south.  At  the  sources  of  the  Niger, 
or,  as  they  thought,  of  the  Nile,  dwelt  certain  tribes 
of  the  "  Sanhadja  of  the  Veil  "  ^  (Likam),  who  have 
given  their  name  to  Senegal.  Moslems  only  in  name, 
they  had  been  converted  to  Sunnite  orthodoxy  by 
one  of  their  chiefs,  who  had  himself  been  instructed 
by  a  learned  doctor  at  Kairouan.  Spreading  their 
new  faith  with  and  by  their  arms,  they  started  for 
the  north.  They  preached  an  austere  doctrine, 
destroying  as  they  went  all  instruments  of  music, 
and  everything  which  could  distract  a  Moslem  from 
the  thought  of  the  salvation  of  his  soul.  Pressing 
on,  they  seized  Tafilet  and  its  capital  Sidjilmassa. 
Then  they  attacked  the  Zenetes,  then  the  Mas- 
mouda  of  the  Upper  Atlas  (Deren).  Descending  the 
mountains,  they  fell  upon  the  Zenetes  of  the  Tell ; 
lastly,  they  met  the  Borghouata  of  the  western 
littoral,  heretics  who  had  a  Koran  ^  of  their  own, 
written  in  the  Berber  tongue.  These  they  destroyed, 
and  they  vanish  from  history,  a.d.  1059. 

Under  the  command  of  Youssof  ibn  Tachefin,  the 
Almoravides  (El  Morabethin,  the  Marabouts)  pushed 
north,  seized  Fez,  and  massacred  the  inhabitants. 
"  In  the  mosques  alone  he  slew  three  thousand  men," 

^  For  some  interesting  details  concerning  the  Veiled  Touaregs,   viWe 
Across  the  Sahara^  by  Hanns  Vischer,  p.  i66. 
2  The  Koran  of  ^alih'  ben  T'arif.     Cf.  p.  235. 


252  'TWIXT   SAND    AND    SEA 

A.D.  1063.  Crossing  the  Straits,  he  dethroned  the 
Andalusian  Emirs,  and  made  himself  master  of 
all  Moslem  Spain,  a.d.  1090.  After  dividing  the 
Maghreb  el  Acsa  into  governments  which  he  com- 
mitted to  his  chiefs,  Youssof,  under  his  new  title  of 
Prince  of  the  Faithful,  Emir  el-Moumenim,  attacked 
the  Hammadites  in  the  Central  Maghreb.  About 
the  year  a.d.  1120,  the  Almoravides  reached  the 
zenith  of  their  power,  and  the  Abbassite  Khalifahs 
recognised  them  as  Lords  of  Spain  and  of  the 
Maghreb.  Then  came  the  end,  for  few  of  these 
kingdoms  outlived  their  founder,  or,  at  any  rate, 
maintained  much  practical  coherence  and  strength, 
after  the  death  of  the  man  whose  genius  and 
enthusiasm  called  them  into  being. 

Early  in  the  twelfth  century  a  new  sect  appeared 
under  a  new  Mahdi.  Ibn  Toumert,  of  the  tribe  of 
the  Masmouda,  was  born  in  the  Atlas  Mountains. 
After  studying  at  Cordova,  a.d.  1105,  he  travelled  to 
the  east,  where,  in  the  centre  of  fanaticism  and  blind 
exaltation,  he  was  trained  to  be  the  warrior  apostle 
of  the  Sof rites.  He  returned  on  foot  to  the  west. 
At  Mehdia  he  was  well  received ;  at  Bougie  his  zeal 
in  breaking  wine- jars  and  instruments  of  music 
was  so  little  to  the  liking  of  the  people  that  he  was 
forced  to  fly  for  his  life.  It  was  then  that  he  was 
joined  by  a  young  Berber,  Abd-el-Moumen,  who 
became  his  favourite  disciple,  and  in  time  his  suc- 
cessor— perhaps  the  greatest  man  the  Berber  race 
has  ever  produced.  Ibn  Toumert,  with  his  disciple, 
made  his  way  back  to  the  mountains  of  the 
Masmouda.  There  he  declared  himself  to  be  the 
Mahdi,  the  twelfth  Iman  predicted  by  Mohammed. 
Establishing  himself  in  the  mountains  of  Tini  Mellel 
(the    White    Wells),    in    the    south   of   Morocco,   he 


RASSOUL   ALLAH  253 

organised  his  forces  for  an  onslaught  on  the  Almo- 
ravides  (a.d.  1112). 

His  methods,  as  related  by  Ibn  Khaldoun,  had 
all  the  simple  directness  of  genius.  During  a  time 
of  famine,  certain  of  his  followers  were  tempted  to 
forsake  him  and  return  to  their  allegiance  to  the 
Almoravides.  Something  had  to  be  done  to  stop 
the  rot.  "  God  Most  High,"  he  proclaimed,  "  has 
given  me  a  light  by  which  I  may  separate  the  men 
predestined  to  paradise  from  the  lost  who  are  doomed 
to  hell ;  to  prove  this  He  has  sent  certain  angels 
into  the  wells,  who  shall  bear  witness  to  my  truth- 
fulness." So  all  the  people,  shedding  tears  of 
penitence,  came  to  the  wells.  "  Angels  of  God," 
cried  the  Mahdi,  "  is  this  man  speaking  the  truth  ?  " 
Then  certain  men  whom  he  had  hidden  in  the  wells 
repHed,  "  Yes,  he  is  speaking  truth."  Then  said 
Ibn  Toumert  to  the  people,  "  These  wells  are  holy, 
for  the  Angels  of  God  have  dwelt  in  them.  Let  us 
fill  them  up  quickly,  lest  they  be  defiled."  So  they 
were  filled  up,  and  the  Mahdi  was  relieved  from  any 
fear  of  exposure.  Then  the  Inspired  of  God  placed 
the  lost  upon  his  left  hand ;  the  elect  upon  his 
right  hand ;  with  these  he  fell  upon  his  enemies, 
and  cast  them  down  a  precipice.  Thus  Ibn  Toumert 
established  his  power,  and  rid  himself  in  one  day  of 
seven  thousand  adversaries.  A  little  after  this  Ibn 
Toumert  died,  and  Abd-el-Moumen  reigned  in  his 
stead. 

No  agitator  has  ever  wanted  for  followers  in  Africa. 
The  conquests  of  Abd-el-Moumen  were  rapid.  The 
Western  Maghreb  '*  el  Acsa "  was  subdued.  After 
a  terrible  siege  of  eleven  months,  during  which  more 
than  a  hundred  thousand  perished,  the  capital  was 
taken  and  the  inhabitants  put  to  the  sword.     "  We 


254  'TVVIXT   SAND    AND    SEA 

may  presume  that  God  permitted  this  because  Youssof 
had  treated  the  King  of  Seville  with  indignity  after 
he  had  dethroned  him.  Such  are  the  changes  of 
mortal  life.  Out,  then,  on  the  world!  and  blessed 
be  the  Lord,  whose  kingdom  shall  never  pass  away." 
Thus  was  founded  the  "  Traditionist,"  or  Almohade 
kingdom  of  the  west. 

At  the  invitation  of  the  Moslems  of  the  east,  Abd- 
el-Moumen  turned  his  arms  towards  Ifrikya.  All  was 
anarchy  there.  The  Hillal  Arabs  were  supreme  in  the 
Central  Maghreb,  and  the  Normans  held  all  the  sea- 
board of  Ifrikya.  In  March  1169  El  Moumen  took 
Bougie,  and  put  an  end  to  the  dynasty  of  the  Ham- 
madites.  On  July  14  Tunis  submitted,  and  the 
bishopric  of  Carthage  was  suppressed ;  then  Mehdia 
was  besieged  and  taken,  the  Normans  were  expelled, 
the  troublesome  Arabs  were  drafted  into  the  army, 
and  once  more,  from  the  Syrtes  to  the  Atlantic,  Africa 
owned  a  single  sway.  An  amazing  conquest,  followed 
by  a  yet  more  amazing  reform. 

Abd-el-Moumen  was  not  merely  a  fighter — he  was  a 
man  of  grand  ideas,  and  an  organiser  and  adminis- 
trator of  the  first  rank.  He  founded  universities  to 
which  students  from  Europe  had  to  come  to  learn  the 
sciences  ;  the  whole  country  was  surveyed  for  fiscal 
purposes  and  divided  into  square  miles  ;  one-third  of 
the  whole  surface  ranked  as  mountain  land ;  on  this 
basis  each  tribe  was  taxed,  and  was  required  to  pay  in 
silver  ;  a  tax  on  property  replaced  the  old  taxes  on 
commodities  ;  he  struck  coins  with  the  words  "  Allah 
is  our  God,"  "  Mohammed  is  our  Prophet,"  "  The 
Mahdi  is  our  Iman."  He  maintained  a  fleet  and  an 
army  ;  and  the  country  was  so  well  policed  that 
caravans  could  move  throughout  it  without  fear. 
Never  had  Africa  enjoyed  such  discipline  and  such 


RASSOUL   ALLAH  255 

security.  At  last  he  died,  in  a.d.  1163,  full  of  years 
and  honour. 

It  was  not  in  the  nature  of  things  that  a  condition 
of  such  peace  and  prosperity  should  last  long  in  Africa. 
Tunis,  which  had  been  created  a  capital  city  by  Abd- 
el-Moumen,  under  the  charge  of  Abou  Mohammed,  son 
of  Abou  Hafs,  declared  itself  independent,  under  the 
Hafside  dynasty.  In  the  west,  Tlemcen  rose  to  a 
position  of  immense  prosperity  and  magnificence  under 
the  power  of  the  Beni  Zian  Zenata,  while  the  Beni 
Nerin  Zenata,  hitherto  nomads,  took  possession  of 
Fez.  On  the  death  of  the  last  Almohade  in  battle 
in  A.D.  1269,  a  bitter  and  obstinate  war  broke  out  be- 
tween these  two  which  fatally  weakened  the  Berber 
rule,  while  the  baleful  influence  of  the  Arabs  was 
always  present  as  a  disturbing  influence  to  hinder  the 
Berbers  of  the  Maghreb  from  advancing  or  developing 
normally. 

Three  dynasties  emerged  out  of  all  this  confusion — 
the  Hafside  at  Tunis,  the  Ouabite  at  Tlemcen,  and  the 
Merinide  at  Fez  ;  but  decay,  rapid  and  certain,  set  in, 
which  destroyed  both  civilisation  and  power.  By  the 
end  of  the  fifteenth  century,  the  Merinide  kingdom  was 
broken  up,  Tunis  was  divided,  Fez  had  neither  influ- 
ence nor  strength.  Portugal  held  Tangiers  and  Cintra  ; 
Spain  seized  Oran,  Bougie,  and  Tripoli,  and  fortified 
the  island  of  Penon,  off  Algiers.  The  little  helpless 
states  recognised  the  suzerainty  of  the  kings  of 
Castile,  paid  tribute,  and  received  garrisons.  The 
Berber  kingdoms  and  dynasties  had  died  down  to  the 
roots.  Anarchy,  complete  and  hopeless,  reigned  every- 
where. Once  more  the  country  waited  only,  and  not 
in  vain,  for  some  invader  from  without  to  come  and 
seize  it. 


CHAPTER    XV 

AN  AFRICAN   MECCA 

Kairouan 

What  Cirta  was  to  the  Natives ;  what  Carthage  was 
to  the  Foreigners,  whether  Punic  or  Roman ;  what 
Algiers  was  destined  to  be  to  the  Turks,  that,  and 
more,  Kairouan  has  been  to  the  Arabs.  Cirta  was  a 
strong  natural  fortress,  besieged  eighty  times  and  taken 
only  twice  ;  Carthage  was  a  seaport ;  Kairouan  was 
neither.  It  is  indeed  difficult  to  find  any  adequate 
reason  for  the  selection  of  the  place  as  the  site  of  a 
great  capital  city.  Very  different  and  contradictory 
explanations  have  been  given  by  various  writers.  One 
says  that,  being  near  the  mountains  and  near  the  sea, 
so  as  to  be  in  touch  with  both,  yet  safe  from  either,  it 
was  both  strategically  and  commercially  of  vast  im- 
portance. In  reply  it  may  be  pointed  out  that  it 
never  stood  a  siege  successfully,  and  that  this  alone  is 
sufficient  to  condemn  it  commercially  also.  Another 
tells  us  that,  being  the  most  unattractive  spot  he  could 
find,  with  no  natural  resources,  and  little  or  no  water, 
Okba  chose  it  as  an  act  of  faith  in  the  protecting  and 
providing  goodness  of  Allah. 

The  account  given  by  En  Noweiri  is  delightfully 
vague  :  "  Okba  had  been  entrusted  by  the  Khalifah 
with  the  government  of  the  new  province  of  Ifrikya. 
From  Sousse  he  marched  out,  and  at  a  distance  of 
thirteen  miles  he  happed  upon  a  citadel  held  by  the 

Berbers  ;   they  refused  to  let  him  pass,  so  he  took  it, 

256 


AN    AFRICAN    MECCA  257 

and  went  on  his  way,  until  he  came  to  a  valley  filled 
with  trees  and  scrub,  a  habitation  of  wild  beasts  and 
owls.  So  he  prayed  to  God,  and  said  to  the  beasts, 
*  Inhabitants  of  this  valley,  begone,  and  may  God 
have  mercy  upon  you  ;  we  intend  to  abide  here.' 
When  he  had  thus  proclaimed  three  times,  the  serpents 
and  scorpions  and  other  unknown  beasts  began  to 
depart  before  the  very  eyes  of  the  spectators.  Thus 
was  Kairouan  founded." 

The  valley  and  trees  have  vanished  with  the 
scorpions,  and  Kairouan  lies  on  a  dreary,  waterless  ex- 
panse, on  the  road  to  nowhere.  Destroyed  over  and 
over  again,  its  sanctity  as  the  foundation  of  Sidi  Okba, 
the  darling  hero-martyr  of  the  Arabs,  and  as  the  rest- 
ing-place of  Sidi  Sahab,^  Friend  of  the  Prophet,  has 
always  ensured  its  restoration  ;  but  peace  and  safety 
came  to  it  only  with  loss  of  importance,  when  the 
capital  was  moved  to  Tunis.  Now  it  is  like  Canter- 
bury, venerable  from  its  history  and  associations,  rich 
in  the  haunting  beauty  of  splendid  ecclesiastical  build- 
ings, but  politically  derelict,  in  an  age  when  religion 
has  little  influence  on  practical  conduct. 

To  the  south  of  the  city  a  little  French  town  has 
sprung  up,  and  on  the  west  it  is  enclosed  by  the  great 
suburb  of  the  Zlass,-  which  is  almost  as  large  as  the 
town  itself.  But  the  Arab  town  has  been  rehgiously 
respected.  Within  the  circle  of  its  battlemented 
walls,  with  their  strong  towers  and  gates  intact,  the 
domes  and  minarets  of  its  mosques  and  zaouias,  all 
I  dominated  by  the  enormous  tower  of  the  Great 
Mosque,  it  has  preserved,  more  even  than  Tunis,  its 
picturesque  character  as  the  African  Mecca. 

^  Probably  it  was  the  fact  that  Sidi  Sahab  had  been  buried  there 
which  made  Okba  select  it  as  the  site  of  his  caravan.  It  had  a  Roman 
predecessor,  Vicus  Augusti. 

^  A  tribe  of  nomads,  who  form  the  best  customers  of  Kairouan. 

R 


258  'TWIXT   SAND    AND    SEA 

Due  north  and  south  from  the  Bab-et-Tunis,  near 
the  Kasbah,  to  the  Bab  Djelladin  (Skinners),  runs  the 
principal  street,  now  called  the  Rue  Saussier,  Hned  on 
each  side  with  little  shops  and  stalls,  and  bright  with 
the  varied  colours  of  the  dresses  of  the  natives  and 
pilgrims  from  all  parts  of  Africa  ;  to  the  right  of  this 
street  lie  the  Souks,  which  deserve  a  visit,  though  they 
are  neither  so  large  nor  so  interesting  as  those  of 
Tunis. 

But  it  is  to  see  the  mosques  and  zaouias  of 
Kairouan  that  people  come,  even  more  than  to  see 
Kairouan  itself.  So,  without  longer  preface,  let  us 
turn  to  these. 

The  Djama  Kebira,  or  Djama  Sidi  Okba,  occupies 
the  eastern  extremity  of  the  city,  just  inside  the  walls. 
The  building  of  the  first  mosque  by  Sidi  Okba  himself 
was  accompanied,  as  was  only  right,  by  great  and 
notable  miracles.  The  stones  took  their  appointed 
places  of  their  own  accord,  and  a  voice  from 
heaven  determined  the  exact  position  of  the  Kibba, 
or  Mihrab,  the  niche  which,  in  every  mosque,  shows 
the  direction  of  Mecca,  towards  which  prayer  must  be 
offered. 

But  even  these  divine  interpositions  were  insuffi- 
cient to  preserve  the  mosque.  Twenty-five  years 
later  it  was  pulled  down,  with  the  exception  of  the 
Kibba,  by  Hassan  ibn  Noman,  who  brought  from 
Carthage,  and  perhaps  Sousse,  the  pillars  with  which 
his  new  building  was  adorned.  Prominent  amongst 
these  are  the  two  splendid  columns  of  red  and  yellow 
marble  which  stand  on  either  side  of  the  Mihrab  ;  it  is 
said  that  they  came  from  a  Christian  church,  and  that 
the  Emperor  of  Constantinople  offered  to  buy  them  for 
their  weight  in  gold.  This  second  mosque  was  re- 
placed by  a  larger  in  a.d.  724,  and  this  by  a  larger  still 


a        1 


J 


AN    AFRICAN    MECCA  259 

in  A.D.  772.  Finally,  in  a.d.  821,  Ziadet  Allah,  the 
second  prince  of  the  House  of  Aghleb,  razed  it  to  the 
ground,  including  the  Mihrab  of  Sidi  Okba,  and  built 
the  mosque  which  we  now  see. 

It  consists  of  two  parts  :  the  court,  corresponding  to 
the  patio  of  a  Spanish  mosque  and  the  atrium  of  a 
Christian  basihca,  and  the  mosque  itself  ;  the  whole  is 
enclosed  by  a  lofty  buttressed  wall  with  handsome  pro- 
jecting gateways,  and  covers  an  area  of  one  hundred 
and  forty  yards  by  eighty-seven. 

The  outer  court  is  impressive  from  its  great  size, 
but  is  not  architecturally  successful.  It  is  surrounded 
by  a  very  splendid  double  colonnade,  but,  as  in  the 
Piazza  di  San  Marco  at  Venice,  all  is  dwarfed  and  spoilt 
by  the  too  vast  extent  of  the  court  itself ;  and  this 
effect  is  still  further  increased  by  the  enormous  height 
and  bulk  of  the  square  minaret,  which  reduces  all  else 
to  insignificance.  The  arches  of  the  colonnade  are 
pointed,  and  show  hardly  any  trace  of  the  horse-shoe 
form ;  they  rest  on  clustered  pillars  of  marble.  In  the 
court  are  four  handsome  bases  of  pillars,  hollowed  out 
for  the  ritual  ablutions  of  the  faithful ;  the  water  is 
drawn  from  four  cisterns  under  the  edifice.  In  the 
centre  is  a  sundial,  a  tall  stone  crowned  with  a  vertical 
stick  and  string,  each  of  which  tells  the  hour  by  the 
shadows  cast  on  two  separate  dials.  It  is  mounted 
high  up  on  steps  and  is  enclosed  by  a  railing.  Here, 
as  the  hour  for  midday  prayer  approached,  an  old 
white-robed  attendant  of  the  mosque  was  standing 
watching  intently  for  the  shadow  to  reach  the  ap- 
pointed spot.  From  the  top  of  the  square  tower  of  the 
minaret  another  man  was  watching  him.  When  the 
creeping  shadows  reached  the  places  upon  the  dials,  he 
raised  his  hand.  Immediately  a  white  flag  floated  out 
from  the  minaret  and  the  musical  droning  cry  of  the 


26o  'TWIXT   SAND   AND   SEA 

muezzin  was  taken  up  from  tower  to  tower  throughout 
the  town. 

It  is  natural,  almost  inevitable,  to  compare  this,  the 
greatest  mosque  of  Africa,^  with  that  of  Cordova,  built 
only  a  few  years  before.  So  far  as  the  outer  court  is 
concerned,  there  can  be  little  hesitation  in  giving  the 
palm  to  Spain.  Not  only  is  the  minaret  far  more 
beautiful — the  African  minarets  are  for  the  most  part 
uninteresting — but  a  perfect  harmony  of  proportion 
has  been  preserved  between  the  front  of  the  Mezquita, 
the  surrounding  buildings,  and  the  crowning  tower, 
which  makes  the  Patio  de  los  Naranjos,  seen  through 
the  pleasant  Hght  and  shade  of  its  grove  of  palms  and 
oranges,  one  of  the  most  beautiful  sights  in  Spain. 

But  when  we  leave  the  court  and  enter  the  mosque 
itself,  it  is  very  doubtful  whether  this  verdict  ought  not 
to  be  reversed.  There  is  nothing  at  Cordova  to  com- 
pare with  the  magnificent  range  of  splendidly  carved 
doorways  which  open  into  the  building,  each  door  a 
wonder  of  wood-carving  ;  while,  on  entering,  it  is  hard 
to  conceive  an  interior  more  gracious  in  colour,  more 
perfect  in  proportion,  more  lovely  in  form,  in  a  word, 
more  satisfying,  than  the  wonderful  maze  of  marble 
pillars,  supporting  graceful  horseshoe  arches,  which 
stretches  in  all  directions,  mystifying  without  con- 
fusing the  eye. 

Happily  the  Moslem  builders  were  seldom  led  astray 
by  that  fatal  megalomania  which  has  been  the  curse, 
architecturally  as  well  as  in  other  ways,  of  pagan  and 
papal  Rome.  Beautiful  as  the  horseshoe  arch  is,  it  is 
structurally  false,  and,  if  used  on  a  scale  large  enough 
to  be  impressive  from  its  size,  it  weakens  and  destroys 
the  general  effect  by  reveahng  its  own  untruthfulness. 

^  It  is  said  that  the  mosques  of  Tunis  are  fine  ;  certainly  they  are  large 
but  they  are  not  open  to  strangers. 


AN    AFRICAN    MECCA         ,  261 

To  produce  the  effect  of  size,  the  architects  were  there- 
fore driven  to  the  multipUcation  table  ;  and,  if  we  are 
to  say  that  the  Cordova  building  is  grander  than  that 
at  Kairouan,  it  will  not  be  because  each  pillar  is  more 
precious,  or  each  arch  more  lovely,  but  because  in  the 
one  case  the  pillars  number  nearly  twelve  hundred,  and 
in  the  other  hardly  two. 

Of  course  the  Cordova  Mezquita  has  undergone 
disastrous  mutilations.  Its  size  has  been  doubled — 
that  fatal  multiplication — an  alien  and  inharmonious 
cathedral  has  been  dropped  into  the  middle  of  it,  its 
splendid  ceiling  of  wood  has  been  largely  replaced  with 
vulgar  whitewashed  vaults,^  its  windows  have  been 
fitted  with  incredibly  bad  glass,  the  delicate  curves  of 
its  arches  have  been  emphasised  and  outraged  by  being 
cut  up  into  alternate  wedges  of  red  and  white  paint. 
Such  calamities  as  these  the  sister  mosque  of  Kairouan 
has  mercifully  been  spared.  Large  enough  to  be 
mysterious  without  being  bewildering,^  with  little  light 
but  such  as  pours  in  when  its  vast  doors  are  opened,  its 
vistas  of  pillared  aisles  have  all  the  solemnity  and 
dignity  which  we  associate  with  the  holders  of  the 
creed. 

From  the  central  door,^  a  nave,  loftier,  richer  in 
decoration  and  nobler  in  form  than  the  others,  leads  to 
a  Mihrab  as  beautiful  as  that  at  Tlemcen,  and  hardly 
suffering  by  comparison  with  that  miracle  of  form  and 
colour,  the  Mihrab  at  Cordova. 

The  story  goes  that,  in  a  fit  of  drunken  madness, 
Ibrahim-el-Aghlab  made  his  wives  offer  him  worship  as 
a  god.     Next  morning,  full  of  remorse,  he  sent  for  the 

^  The  wooden  ceilings  are,  however,  being  restored. 

"  It  is  divided  into  seventeen  aisles  by  arcades  of  ten  pillars  each.  The 
mosque  at  Cordova  has  nineteen  aisles  and  arcades  of  thirty-three  pillars. 

^  In  Africa,  as  in  Spain,  the  mosques  are  carefully  orientated  north-west 
and  south-east. 


262  'TWIXT   SAND   AND   SEA 

Grand  Mufti,  confessed,  and  implored  penance  and 
absolution.  The  Mufti  replied  that,  as  the  sin  had 
been  against  God,  the  atonement  must  be  made  to  God, 
and  directed  that  some  marvellous  tiles,  brought  from 
Baghdad  to  decorate  his  palace,  and  some  carved  wood 
destined  to  make  instruments  of  music,  should  be  given 
to  the  adornment  of  the  House  of  God,  which  he  was 
then  building.  Ibrahim  obeyed,  and  the  metalhc 
lustre  of  the  tiles  now  shines  out  of  the  gloom  on  the 
walls  of  the  Mihrab,  while  the  wood  carvings,  quaintly 
fitted  together/  form  the  magnificent  mimbar  or 
pulpit. 

One  other  marvel  the  mosque  possesses  ;  it  is  the 
splendid  maksoura,  or  enclosure  for  women,  surrounded 
by  screens  of  exquisitely  carved  wood,  which  Abou 
Temmim  el  Moezz  ibn  Bades  erected  to  the  right  of 
the  mimbar.  It  remains  intact,  and  luminous  with 
the  coloured  light  which  pours  through  its  stained 
windows,  fitted  with  delicate  tracery  of  perforated 
marble;  it  helps  us  to  picture  what  the  splendour  of 
the  mosque  must  have  been  in  the  days  of  its  glory. 

Such  an  architecture  as  we  have  described,  so  little 
susceptible  of  grandeur  of  treatment,  but  so  beautiful 
in  detail  of  form  and  colour,  lends  itself  admirably  to  a 
series  of  small  courts  or  rooms,  such  as  are  suitable  in 
houses  or  in  the  midas,^  or  places  for  ablutions,  which 
we  find  at  the  entrance  of  mosques. 

A  very  perfect  example  of  such  a  building  is  found 
in  the  Zaouia  of  Sidi  Sahab,  commonly  called  the 
Mosque  of  the  Barber,  which  stands  just  outside 
Kairouan  near  the  great  basin  or  tank  of  the  Aghla- 
bites. 

*  Every  panel  is  different,  and  every  one  deserves  separate  and  detailed 
description. 

^  An  exquisite  example  of  a  mida  has  been  re-erected  in  the  Pare  du 
Belvedere  at  Tunis. 


AN    AFRICAN    MECCA  263 

Far  from  being  a  barber,  Abou-Zoumat  Obeid 
Allah  ibn  Adam  el  Beloui  was  a  mighty  man  of  valour. 
He  earned  his  title  of  Sidi  Sahab  (the  Companion),  by 
being  one  of  the  ten  earliest  disciples  who  took  the 
oath  of  fidelity  to  the  Prophet  under  the  lote  tree. 
After  the  death  of  his  master,  he  took  part  in  the  con- 
quest of  Egypt,  and  in  the  expedition  led  into  Ifrikya 
by  Moouiaibn  Koudiedj  in  the  year  a.d.  655  (a.h.  34). 
Mortally  wounded  in  the  attack  on  Sbeitla  in  the 
following  year,  he  died  and  was  buried  at  Kairouan. 
At  the  last  solemn  interview  when  Mohammed  bade 
farewell  to  his  Sahabs — his  Knights  of  the  Round 
Table — he  gave  El  Beloui  three  hairs  from  his  beard, 
that  by  them  he  might  be  recognised  at  the  Day  of 
Judgment.  El  Beloui  directed  that  the  precious  relics 
should  be  buried  with  him,  one  being  laid  on  his  lips, 
one  on  his  heart,  and  one  under  his  right  arm,  in  token 
that  his  eloquence,  his  love,  and  his  might  had  all  been 
given  to  the  service  of  the  master  he  loved.  A  touch- 
ing legend  which  deserved  to  bear  better  fruit  than 
simply  to  win  for  El  Beloui  the  title  of  Barber  ! 

The  mosque,  which  is  the  loveliest  in  Kairouan, 
comprises  a  Medersa  or  college,  a  Zaouia  or  hostel,  as 
well  as  the  Kouba  or  shrine  of  the  saint,  and  place  of 
pilgrimage.  It  is  in  just  such  a  cluster  of  buildings 
as  this,  as  in  the  Alhambra  at  Granada,  that  Arab^ 
builders  are  at  their  best. 

The  principal  entrance  opens  on  a  large,  bare  court- 
yard. To  the  left,  hidden  by  a  lofty  wall,  he  the 
collegiate  buildings  of  the  Zaouia  and  its  mosque ; 
in  front  is  the  entrance  to  the  shrine.  In  the  angle 
between  the  two  rises  the  fine  square  minaret. 

'  Better,  perhaps,  "  Berber  "  or  "  Moorish."  It  is  very  doubtful  whether 
the  Arabs  deserve  the  credit  of  any  of  the  great  buildings  in  either  Spain  or 
Africa. 


264  'TWIXT    SAND   AND   SEA 

Under  a  lofty  archway,  we  pass  into  a  vestibule 
of  great  beauty  ;  its  panelled  and  recessed  ceiling  is 
richly  painted  and  its  walls  glow  with  the  colours  of 
ancient  tiles.     Thence  a  door  opens  into  the  atrium. 

This  is  small,  being,  indeed,  little  more  than  a  flight 
of  half-a-dozen  steps,  with  tiled  risers,  and  a  passage- 
way into  the  next  chamber.     It  is  open  to  the  air,  but 
on  each  side  is  an  arcade  of  slender  pillars  bearing 
horseshoe  arches,  and  forming  a  little  cloister  with 
carved  benches  for  the  weary  pilgrims  to  rest  on.     The 
walls  are  covered  with  a  high  dado  of  exquisite  old 
lustred  tiles ;  above  these  are  vases  of  flowers  alter- 
nating  with   these   strange   spear-head  or   flame-like 
ornaments  ^   which   every   Arab    uses,   but   none  can 
explain.     The   whole  is   tiny,   but   the   grace   of  the 
pillars  and  arches,  the  glowing  colours  of  the  rich  old 
tiles,  the  inlaid  marble  of  the  floor,  the  white  marble 
entrance  to  the  room  beyond,  all  seen  in  the  dazzling 
sunshine  which  pours  down  from  above  through  the 
open  roof,  make  this  little  passage  one  of  the  most 
lovely  things  in   North  Africa.     The  sun,  indeed,  is 
necessary,  for  the  builders  loved  bright  lights  and  deep 
shadows,  but  when  half  the  walls  are  seen  in  a  living 
blaze  of  light,  and  the  rest  is  shrouded  in  the  coolness 
of  the  shadows,  the  eye,  half  dazzled,  half  rested,  is 
wholly  satisfied.     It  is  with  Arab  art  as  with  Arab 
dress.     It  is  the  glory  of  the  sunshine  on  which  the 
Arab  counts  and  which  enables  him  to  wear  or  use 
colours  and  contrasts  which  would  be  garish,  if  not 
impossible,  without  it. 

From  the  atrium  we  pass  into  a  square-domed 
chamber  in  which  no  colour  has  been  employed.  The 
white  walls  are  richly  covered  with  the  deeply  incised 
patterns  in  plaster  to  which  we  give  the  name  of 

^   Vide  "Signs  and  Symbols,"  27,  Part  II.,  Chapter  XII. 


AN    AFRICAN    MECCA  265 

arabesques ;  above  these  rise  a  series  of  windows, 
filled  with  coloured  glass,  framed  in  intricate  patterns 
of  pierced  stucco.  Higher  still  rises  the  white  dome, 
divided  into  twenty-four  segments,  each  of  which 
contains  a  palm  leaf,  differently  treated.  Nothing 
could  be  more  delightful  than  this  little  white  shadowy 
room,  between  the  glow  of  the  atrium  we  have  just 
left,  and  the  glare  of  the  central  court  of  the  mosque 
which  we  are  about  to  enter. 

Thus  we  reach  the  innermost  court  of  the  sanctuary. 
Like  so  much  that  we  have  passed  already,  it  is  richly 
decorated  with  ancient  tiles,  on  which  rests  a  frieze  of 
beautiful  incised  plaster  ;  it  is  surrounded  by  a  graceful 
arcade  resting  in  slender  white  marble  columns,  and 
it  is  paved  with  white  marble.  On  three  sides  the 
arcade  has  a  flat,  timbered  ceiling.  On  the  fourth  a 
second  storey,  resting  on  the  arcade,  affords  space  on 
the  outside  for  more  tiles,  set  in  square  conventional 
patterns,  like  windows,  and  also  enables  the  ceiling  to 
be  carried  higher,  and  elaborated  with  rich  recessed 
coffers  and  little  domes.  For  now  we  come  to  the 
centre  of  all  this  loveliness,  the  Kouba  of  the  saint 
himself.  At  the  far  end  of  the  arcade,  a  handsome  door 
between  two  windows  of  white  and  coloured  marbles 
— all  of  elaborate  Italian  rococo  work,  incongruous 
yet  not  inharmonious — opens  into  the  shrine. 

A  story  attaches  to  these  Italian  carvings.  In  the 
eighteenth  century  a  rich  merchant  of  Kairouan  had 
an  Italian  doctor  amongst  his  slaves.  Nursed  through 
a  severe  illness,  and  his  life  practically  saved  by  his 
skill  and  care,  the  master  set  the  slave  free,  and  sent 
him  home  a  rich  man.  Not  to  be  outdone  in  gene- 
rosity, the  doctor  sent  these  carvings  to  his  former 
master  for  use  in  this  mosque  and  Zaouia,  of  which  he 
was  the  administrator. 


266  'TWIXT   SAND   AND    SEA 

The  shrine  is  of  the  usual  type,  a  square,  domed 
room  with  stalactite  roof.  Its  tiles  and  the  coloured 
designs  on  the  walls  are  rich  but  modern,  and,  at 
present,  somewhat  staring.  In  the  centre  is  the  tomb 
or  catafalque,  covered  with  rich  tapestries  and  sur-  j 
rounded  by  a  wooden  grille  on  which  are  hung  glass 
balls,  decorated  ostrich  eggs,  lamps,  and  little  bags  of 
holy  earth  brought  by  the  faithful  from  Mecca  ;  above 
it  are  draped  flags  and  banners  presented  by  various 
benefactors  ;  one  of  the  richest  was  given  by  Mustapha 
ibn  Ismael,  Prime  Minister  of  the  Bey  es  Sadok,  in 
hopes  of  ensuring  the  defeat  of  the  French  by  the 
intervention  of  the  saint. 

Before  leaving  we  pause  a  minute  or  two  to  drink 
in  all  the  quiet  beauty  of  this  dream  of  peaceful  loveli-  _, 
ness.  The  mosque  is  deserted,  and  hitherto  we  have  \ 
been  left  to  wander  as  we  pleased  ;  now  an  old  care- 
taker comes  up  and  speaks  ;  he  is  afraid  we  have  not 
noticed  sufficiently  the  magnificence  of  the  carpets, 
all  made  in  Kairouan,  with  which  the  floor  of  the 
Kouba  is  covered.  An  aged  widow — only  widows  are 
allowed  in  mosques  or  expected  to  pray — has  been 
telling  her  beads  in  the  shrine ;  now  she  leaves  it  and 
visits  the  other  subordinate  shrines,  saying  prayers  in 
each.  She  and  the  caretaker  are  evidently  friends, 
and  exchange  a  kindly  greeting  as  they  pass.  And  so 
we  leave  this  home — as  we  saw  it — of  ancient  peace, 
and  go  out  into  the  glare  and  dust  of  the  road  to 
Kairouan. 

A  few  words  must  suffice  for  the  other  buildings  of 
Kairouan.  The  Djama  Zitouna  (Mosque  of  the  Olive 
Tree)  is  interesting  in  that  it  was  founded  by  Rouifa 
ibn  Tsabit,  one  of  the  Ansars  or  Friends  who  welcomed 
the  Prophet  at  Medina  after  his  flight  from  Mecca,  the 
Hejira.    This  and  the  dedication  of  the  mosque  of 


AN    AFRICAN    MECCA  267 

Sidi  Sahab  would  seem  to  show  that  the  site  was 
sacred  before  Okba  founded  his  Caravan  here.  The 
Djama  Sidi  bou  Djafour  is  called  the  Djama  Tleta 
Biban  from  its  three  handsome  doors,  very  Byzantine 
in  character.  They  are  set  in  a  curious  fa9ade  en- 
riched with  long  Cufic  inscriptions,  in  four  retreating 
lines,  surmounted  by  a  bold  cornice.  Many  of  the 
Zaouias  are  beautiful,  notably  that  of  Sidi  Abid  el 
Gahriani.  The  vast  basin  of  the  Aghlabites  helps  to 
recall  the  perished  glories  of  the  city. 

Very  imposing,  too,  is  the  vast  Mosque  and  Zaouia 
of  Si  Amor  Abbada ;  its  group  of  five  great  domes 
shows  the  influence  of  Turkish  over  Arab  art.  The 
little  mosque  and  marabout  of  the  saint  are  bare  and 
undecorated ;  all  round  them  stand  huge  decaying 
panels  of  wood,  carved  with  the  sayings  and  prophecies 
of  the  marabout.  It  is  said  that  one  of  them  foretold 
the  coming  of  the  French. 

Amor  Abbada  was  a  blacksmith,  and  could  neither 
read  nor  write.  After  he  became  a  marabout  he  prac- 
tised his  art  only  in  making  huge,  clumsy  sabres  in 
wooden  scabbards ;  from  these  the  mosque  takes  its 
name.  One  of  these  is  shown  in  the  mosque,  also  a 
huge  wooden  pipe  five  feet  long,  which,  we  are  assured, 
the  saint  was  wont  to  use.  If  we  ask  how  that  could 
be,  we  are  told  that  he  was  a  giant.  He  obtained  com- 
plete ascendancy  over  the  Bey  Ahmed  Pacha,  who 
presented  him  with  a  dupKcate  of  the  pipe  in  silver  ; 
this  unaccountably  vanished  at  the  death  of  the 
saint.  Amor  Abbada  himself  collected  the  money 
to  erect  the  huge  pile,  in  the  course  of  three  years. 

All  this  is  interesting,  as  illustrating  the  power  and 
influence  of  the  marabouts,  and  the  rapidity  with 
which  legend  gathers  round  them  ;  for  Amor  Abbada 
died  in  1856. 


268  TWIXT   SAND    AND   SEA 

At  last,  tired  head,  eyes  and  feet,  we  left 
the  town  by  the  western  gate,  Bab-el-Djedid,  to 
watch  the  solemn  pageant  of  the  sunset.  Pass- 
ing through  the  quarter  of  the  Zlass,  we  climbed 
the  steep  little  hill  on  which  stands  the  Moslem 
cemetery.  Enclosed  in  its  white  wall,  the  white  Kouba 
watches  over  the  white  graves  which  lie  thick  around. 
Above  it  hung  the  crescent  moon.  To  the  west  ran 
the  heights  of  the  Djebel  Trozza,  pale,  grey,  and 
shrouded  in  the  rising  mist  of  the  evening.  Between 
us  and  them  lay  the  plain,  purple  and  green — dark  in 
the  distance  under  the  mountains,  but  fading  into  a 
dull  green  under  the  cemetery  hill. 

All  was  quiet,  save  for  the  barking  of  a  dog  in  the 
city  and  the  low  droning  cry  of  the  muezzins  calUng 
the  faithful  to  prayer.  Close  by  passed  a  string  of 
tired  camels  coming  out  of  the  desert  to  rest  in  the 
Fondouk  of  the  Zlass ;  others  wandered  to  and  fro, 
searching  for  "  camel  salad  "  in  the  rough  scrub  which 
covered  the  ground.  A  shepherd,  leading  his  flock 
home  from  pasture,  stopped  at  the  call  of  the  muezzin 
to  bow  to  the  earth  in  prayer.  Some  belated  Arabs 
were  leaving  the  town  with  their  laden  asses  and 
passed  and  vanished  in  the  distance. 

Close  by  lay  Kairouan,  shut  up  within  its  walls. 
Above  them  rose  a  forest  of  white  domes  and  minarets, 
nearest  of  all  the  five  great  domes  of  the  Djama  Amor 
Abbada ;  far  off,  across  the  flat  white  roofs,  the  huge 
mass  of  the  Tower  of  the  Djama  Kebira ;  all  glowing 
in  dazzling  light,  their  outlines  seeming  to  quiver  in 
the  translucent  bath  of  sunny  air. 

Then  a  cool  breeze  sprang  up ;  the  shadows 
lengthened,  the  white  changed  to  pink,  the  pink  to 
crimson,  and  the  shadows  of  the  hills  began  to  rise, 
as  the  sun  sank  one  glorious  blood-red,  behind  them. 


AN    AFRICAN    MECCA  269 

The  light  and  colour  faded  and  died  out,  and  ever 
clearer  and  clearer  grew  the  cold  rays  of  the  crescent 
moon,  showing  a  darkness  it  could  not  dispel ;  and  the 
domes  and  minarets  stood  out  hard,  white,  and  dead 
against  a  black  sky. 

A  fitting  picture  of  the  long  tragedy  we  have  been 
following,  of  the  sea  of  blood  in  which  the  sun  of 
Roman  and  Christian  civilisation  set,  and  of  the  chill, 
dark  desolation  of  Islam  which  has  settled  down  on 
Africa. 


CHAPTER    XVI 

THE   CRESCENT   AND   THE   CROSS,   a.d.    1453-1830 

In  North  Africa,  as  in  Europe,  the  sixteenth  century 
was  a  time  of  profound  change.  Old  forces  had 
spent  themselves,  old  fires  had  burnt  themselves 
out.  North  of  the  Mediterranean  it  witnessed  the 
Renaissance,  and  the  apogee  and  decline  of  the  great 
kingdoms  of  Spain  and  Portugal ;  in  Africa  it  saw 
the  coming  of  the  Turks  and  the  final  estabHshment 
of  Islamism. 

The  streams  of  Arab  invasion,  which  had  swept 
over  the  land  as  far  as  the  borders  of  Morocco,  had 
ceased  to  flow,  and  the  balance  between  the  natives 
and  the  invaders  had  reached  an  equilibrium.  Roughly 
speaking,  the  Berbers,  hardly  touched  or  affected  by 
the  Arab  deluge  which  had  submerged  the  lowlands, 
held  Morocco  and  the  mountainous  districts  such  as 
the  Aures  and  the  Djurdjura.  The  Arabs  occupied 
the  south,  including  Southern  Tunisia  and  the  Oases ; 
and  a  mixed  population  of  Berberised  Arabs  or  Arab- 
ised  Berbers  held  the  valleys  and  the  plateaux. 

The  influence  of  Islamism  is  rather  difficult  to  esti- 
mate. Nominally  it  was  universally  accepted.  Prac- 
tically the  popular  form  was  what  we  might  call  a 
vague  form  of  nonconformity.  Certainly  there  was 
little  or  none  of  that  violent  antipathy  to  Christianity 
which  we  now  associate  with  Mohammedanism.  The 
intercourse  with  Christian  Europe  was,  on  the  whole, 
friendly.  Treaties  were  made  and  observed.  At 
Tunis,    Cirta,    and    elsewhere,    there   were   Christian 

«70 


THE   CRESCENT   AND   THE    CROSS     271 

quarters.  At  Tunis  there  was  a  Christian  church 
until  A.D.  1530.  Above  all,  neither  the  Arabs  nor  the 
Berbers  were  maritime  folk  ;  there  was  no  aggression, 
and  the  Mediterranean  was  a  Christian  lake. 

But  a  new  force  was  appearing  on  the  scene,  which 
was  to  bring  all  this  to  an  end. 

On  May  29,  a.d.  1453,  Constantinople  fell  before 
the  conquering  sword  of  Mohammed  II.,  and  the 
capital  of  the  Christian  Empire  of  the  East  became 
the  seat  of  the  Turkish  Sultan.  Unhke  the  Arabs,  the 
Turks,  and  especially  the  Greek  islanders,  whom  they 
conquered  and  absorbed,  were  seamen,  and  their  half 
pirate  and  wholly  savage  navies  soon  swept  the  Mid- 
land Sea.  Making  their  strongholds  in  the  islands  of 
the  ^gean,  especially  at  Mitylene  (Lesbos),  they  spread 
far  and  wide.  They  had  reached  North  Africa,  and 
occupied  Mehidia,  on  the  east  coast  of  Tunis,  as  early 
as  A.D.  1390  ;  and  the  EngHsh,  under  John  de  Beau- 
fort, the  natural  son  of  the  Duke  of  Lancaster,  had 
tried  in  vain  to  dislodge  them. 

In  A.D.  1492  Granada  fell,  and  with  it  the  Moorish 
kingdom  in  Spain.  The  Moors,  who  were  driven  back 
into  Africa  and  settled  largely  in  the  seaport  cities, 
were  also  experienced  seamen  and  knew  the  coast  of 
Spain  well.  Exasperated  by  their  banishment,  they 
not  only  sought  for  any  opportunity  of  revenging  them- 
selves upon  Spain,  but  extended  their  animosity  to  all 
Christian  powers,  and  so  there  was  imported  into  their 
warfare  that  spirit  of  bigoted  and  malignant  hatred 
which  had  hitherto  been  absent. 

Three  things  had  come  to  pass,  which  were  to  bear 
terrible  fruit  during  the  next  three  hundred  years. 
The  war  was  to  be  waged  on  the  sea,  and  not  on  the 
land ;  Christian  Europe  was  to  be  for  the  future  the 
object  of  attack  ;  and  war  was  to  be  merciless,  and 


272  'TWIXT   SAND   AND    SEA 

waged  with  savage  and  implacable  hatred  against 
Christians  as  Christians. 

The  year  of  the  fall  of  Granada  saw  the  appoint- 
ment of  Gonzales  Ximenes  di  Cisneros  as  confessor 
to  Isabella.  Three  years  later,  a.d.  1495,  she  secured 
his  appointment  as  Archbishop  of  Toledo  ;  the  power 
which  he  thus  obtained  was  used  unsparingly  against 
the  Moslems.  In  a.d.  1499,  he  felt  himself  strong 
enough  to  offer  the  Moors,  who  still  formed  the  most 
cultured  portion  of  the  population  of  Granada,  the 
option  of  baptism  or  banishment.  It  was  his  action, 
especially  after  his  appointment  (a.d.  1507)  as  Grand 
Inquisitor,  far  more  than  the  victory  of  Ferdinand  and 
Isabella,  which  ruined  the  south  of  Spain. 

Events  moved  rapidly.  In  a.d.  1504  Isabella  died, 
and  Ferdinand  resigned  in  favour  of  his  son-in-law, 
Philip.  Two  years  later,  in  September  a.d.  1506, 
PhiHp  also  died  suddenly,  leaving  the  throne  to  his 
son  Charles,  a  boy  of  six  years  old.  The  shock  of  her 
husband's  death  entirely  upset  the  always  feeble  in- 
tellect of  his  wife,  the  unhappy  Jane,  and  Ferdinand 
became  Regent.  In  a.d.  1505  Ximenes,  who  had  con- 
ceived the  idea  of  a  Christian  and  Spanish  empire  in 
North  Africa,  despatched  a  squadron  which  succeeded 
in  capturing  the  port  of  Mers-el-Kebir,  five  miles  from 
Oran,  on  October  23,  and  Diego  Fernandez  de  Cor- 
dova, Marquis  de  Comares,  who  was  in  command, 
was  appointed  Governor.  In  a.d.  1509  Ximenes,  now 
become  Cardinal  and  Grand  Inquisitor,  fitted  out 
another  expedition,  which  he  commanded  in  person. 
On  May  17  he  reached  Mers-el-Kebir  ;  on  the  follow- 
ing day  Oran  was  taken,  and  Ximenes  returned  to 
Spain.  In  the  same  year  Pedro  Navarro  seized  and 
garrisoned  Bougie.  Between  Oran  and  his  new  acqui- 
sition he  found  a  small  town,  walled  indeed,  but  with 


THE   CRESCENT   AND   THE    CROSS      273 

no  effective  fortifications,  and  no  considerable  harbour. 
The  town  he  left  untouched,  but  he  seized  and  fortified 
strongly  a  rocky  island  known  as  the  Penon  or  Rock, 
I  which  lay  off  it,  at  a  distance  of  less  than  three  hundred 
yards.  It  was  from  this  island,  and  others  which  have 
now  disappeared,  that  the  town  received  its  name  of 
El-Djezair,  Algiers. 

I       Seven  years  later,  a.d.  1516,  Ferdinand  died,  and 
the  opportunity  seemed  to  the  Algerines  a  favourable 
one  for  tr3dng  to  free  themselves  from  the  "  thorn  '* 
which  the  Spaniards  had  driven  "  into  their  heart."" 
!  Unable  to  effect  their  own  deliverance,  they  called  to 
I  their  aid  Salam  et  Teumi,  the  Arab  Sheik  of  Blidah,  to 
I  whom  they  offered  the  sovereignty  of  the  town.     He 
i  accepted  the  proffered  dignity,  but  entirely  failed  to 
I  capture   the   Penon.     His   failure   brought   upon   the 
[scene  two  men,  who,  like  the  Hautevilles  of  Normandy, 
were  destined  to  change  the  whole  course  of  North 
African,  and,  in  a  measure,  European  history. 
I       In  the  year  a.d.  1462,  when  Mohammed  II.  cap- 
'tured  Mitylene,  he  left  behind   a   Romanean  Sipahi 
called  Yacub,  who  seems  to  have  settled  down  as  a 
potter   and   adopted   Islamism.     He   had   four   sons, 
Elias,    Ishac,   Aroudj,    and   Khisr,   better   known    as 
Kheir-ed-Din.     Aroudj,  or,  as  he  is  commonly  called, 
Father  Aroudj  (Baba  Aroudj ,  Barbarossa),  and  Khisr, 
perhaps  the  others  also,  forsook  their  father's  humble 
trade    for    the    more    profitable    business    of    piracy. 
Aroudj  soon  acquired  fame  as  a  Reis,  but  unfortunately 
was  captured  by  the  Knights  of  Rhodes,  and  had  to 
ipuU  an  oar  in  their  galleys.     Finally  he  escaped  and 
landed  in  Ifrikya.     He  placed  his  services  at  the  dis- 
posal of  the  Hafside  Sultan  of  Tunis,  on  the  under- 
standing that  the  port  was  to  be   open  to  him  on 
payment  of  one-fifth  of  whatever  booty  he  might  secure. 

s 


274  'TWIXT    SAND   AND   SEA 

He  soon  justified  the  arrangement  by  bringing  in 
two  royal  galleys  of  Pope  Julius  II.,  which  he  had 
captured  off  Elba  with  two  galleots/  Soon  Tunis  was 
too  strait  for  the  great  Reis,  and  he  established  t 
himself  in  a  port  of  his  own  in  Djerba,  the  island  of 
the  Lotus-eaters.  There  he  was  joined  by  his  brother, 
Kheir-ed-Din. 

In  A.D.  1512  he  was  invited  to  assist  in  turning  the 
Spaniards  out  of  Bougie,  but  the  attempts  ended  in 
total  failure.  He  was  repulsed,  with  the  loss  of  an 
arm,  and  Doria,  the  famous  Spanish  Admiral,  pursued 
bim  to  Tunis,  took  and  sacked  the  fortress  and  town, 
,and  destroyed  half  the  fleet.  Aroudj  escaped  to 
Djerba,  and  set  to  work  to  build  another  fleet.  In 
A.D.  1514  he  again  attacked  Bougie,  and  was  again 
heaten  off.  Frantic  with  rage,  he  burnt  his  ships  to 
save  them  from  falling  into  the  hands  of  the  Spaniards. 

Something  had  to  be  done,  for  both  Tunis  and 
Djerba  were  now  too  hot  to  hold  him.  Happily  the 
people  of  Djidjelli  came  to  the  rescue,  and  elected  him 
as  their  Sultan.  This  was  the  turning-point  of  his 
■career. 

Utterly  unable  to  capture  the  Penon  from  the 
Spaniards,  Salam  invited  the  celebrated  condottiero  to 
come  to  his  assistance.  Aroudj  advanced  at  once  with 
five  thousand  men  and  set  to  work  in  true  corsair 
fashion.  Salam  he  strangled  with  his  own  hands  ;  his 
wife  he  forced  to  commit  suicide  ;  the  rest  of  the  harem 
be  slaughtered ;  the  town  he  delivered  up  to  be  sacked ; 
thus  he  made  himself  master  of  everything  except  the 
Peiion,  which  he  left  alone.  Such  enterprise  naturally 
endeared  him  to  the  heart  of  the  Berbery,  and  with 
their  assistance  he  pushed  farther  west  and  seized 
Tenes,  leaving  his  brother  Kheir-ed-din  to  hold  Algiers. 

^   Vide  p.  280.  ' 


j  THE    CRESCENT    AND    THE    CROSS      275 

Such  a  man  as  Aroudj  was  not  likely  to  remain  idle 
for  long.  At  Tenes  he  received  another  invitation  to 
help  in  replacing  the  aged  King,  Abou  Zian,  on  the 

i  throne  of  Tlemcen.  This  call  he  also  obeyed,  and  pro- 
ceeded to  carry  out  his  new  duties  in  his  usual  way. 
He  cut  the  throats  of  the  King,  his  seven  sons,  and  some 
thousands  of  the  inhabitants,  and  made  himself  master 

I  of  the  place.  But  this  was  the  last  of  his  exploits. 
The  Marquis  of  Comares,  the  Spanish  Governor  of 
Oran,  received  orders  to  deal  with  the  matter.  He 
advanced  against  Tlemcen,  drove  Aroudj  out,  pursued 
him,  and,  after  a  desperate  resistance,  killed  him  at  Rio 

;  Salado.     This  was  in  the  year  a.d.  1518.     Aroudj  was 

1  forty-four  years  old. 

[  1'    Kheir-ed-din,  who  was  holding  Algiers,  inherited 

jhis  brother's  sovereignty  and  name,  for  he  is  always 
known  as  Barbarossa.  He  was  not  merely  a  buccaneer 
like  Aroudj,  but  a  statesman,  wise  in  counsel,  prudent 
in  action,  as  well  as  furious  in  attack.     His  first  step 

i  was  a  masterpiece  of  statesmanlike  diplomacy  ;    he 

I  made  submission  to  the  Sultan  of  Turkey,  and  thus 
passed  at  once  from  the  position  of  a  mere  marauding 
freebooter  to  that  of  the  accredited  subject  and  officer 
of  a  great  empire.  The  Sultan  Selim  created  him 
Pacha,  sent  him  a  contingent  of  two  thousand  men, 

i  and  proclaimed  that  all  who  served  in  the  war  in  North 

^Africa  should  enjoy  the  pay  and  privileges  of  Janis- 
saries. Thus  reinforced,  Kheir-ed-din  was  able  to  cap- 
ture the  Penon,  A.D.  1529.  The  gallant  commander, 
Don  Martin  de  Vargas,  he  killed,  the  garrison  was  en- 

i  slaved,  the  fort  destroyed,  and  with  the  materials,  the 
island  was  connected  with  the  mainland  by  a  mole. 
Thus  was  formed  the  harbour  of  Algiers,  which  for  the 
next  three  hundred  years  was  to  be  the  scourge  of  the 
Mediterranean  and  the  disgrace  of  Christendom — the 


276  TWIXT    SAND    AND   SEA 

home  and  stronghold  of  the  terrible  Barbary  corsairs. 
The  really  great  abihties  of  Kheir-ed-din  marked  him 
for  promotion.  The  Sultan  Soliman  summoned  him  to 
Constantinople  and  made  him  Admiral  ^-in-Chief  of 
his  fleets,  with  the  title  of  Captain  Pacha.  In  a.d.  1534 
he  dethroned  Mulai  Hassan,  King  of  Tunis,  but  was 
eventually  driven  out  again  by  the  Spaniards  under 
Charles  V.  in  person.  At  last,  in  a.d.  1547,  he  died  at 
the  age  of  nearly  ninety  years,  and  was  buried  at 
Beshiktash. 

Meanwhile  the  appointment  of  Charles  V.  as 
Emperor  had  diverted  his  attention  from  the  south  to 
the  north,  and  the  command  of  the  sea  in  the  Medi- 
terranean was  rapidly  passing  out  of  Christian  hands. 
In  A.D.  1541  a  great  crusade  was  launched  against 
Algiers,  but,  aided  by  an  opportune  storm,  Hassan 
Agha  was  able  to  repulse  it,  and  the  town  gained  the 
character  of  being  impregnable.  In  a.d.  1554  the 
Sultan  Salat  Reis  drove  the  Spaniards  from  Bougie  ; 
in  the  following  year  the  Knights  of  St.  John  were 
forced  to  evacuate  Tripoli.  Tunis,  taken  and  retaken^ 
was  from  a.d.  1574  governed  by  a  Bey  appointed  by 
the  Sultan.  To  the  west  the  Turks  made  themselves 
masters  of  Tlemcen  and  Mostaganem ;  and  the 
Spaniards,  though  not  expelled,  were  closely  blockaded 
in  Oran.  Lastly,  the  Cherifs  of  Fez  drove  the  Portu- 
guese from  the  coasts  of  Morocco. 

The  position  of  the  Turks  in  Africa  was  more  akin 
to  that  of  the  Carthaginians  than  to  that  of  the 
Romans  ;  it  was  not  a  conquest  and  occupation  of  the 
country  generally,  but  of  the  seaboard,  and  of  the 
country  only  so  far  as  was  necessary.     The  natives 

^  "  Admiral,"  or  "  Amiral,"  is  derived  from  "  Emir."    It  is  strange  that,  of ' 
the  three  chief  titles  in  the  navy,  no  one  is  English.     "  Admiral "  is  Arabic, 
*'  Captain"  Latin,  and  "  Lieutenant  "  French. 


THE    CRESCENT   AND    THE    CROSS      277 

were  profoundly  influenced  and  leavened  by  the  new- 
comers, but  not  conquered  or  seriously  interfered  with. 
Even  in  Algiers  men  are  spoken  of  as  natives,  or 
Berbers,  or  Kabyles,  or  Arabs,  but  not  as  Turks.  The 
business  of  the  Turks  was  on  the  sea,  not  on  the  land. 
The  Poeni  were  traders,  the  Turks  were  pirates  ;  the 
business  was  different,  but  the  scene  was  the  same. 

The  influence  of  the  Turks  upon  North  Africa,  so  far  as 
it  affected  the  country  at  large,  was  wholly  bad.  Agri- 
culture was  ruined  by  the  general  anarchy  which  pre- 
vailed, the  oppressive  taxes  laid  upon  it,  the  irregularity 
and  violence  with  which  they  were  raised,  and  the 
practical  prohibition  of  exportation  ;  even  the  Metidja, 
one  of  the  most  fertile  spots  upon  the  face  of  the  earth, 
was  reduced  to  a  desert,  uncultivated  and  without  in- 
habitants. No  effort  was  made  to  restore  order,  rather 
the  unrest  was  encouraged  and  welcomed,  as  enabling 
the  Turks  to  hold  sway  with  but  little  trouble  and  an 
incredibly  small  army. 

Their  domination  rested  upon  the  support  of  the 
Maghzen^  warlike  tribes  whom  they  had  been  unable  to 
subdue,  and  so  had  attached  them  to  themselves  by 
exempting  them  from  taxation,  and  entrusting  to  them 
the  very  profitable  privilege  of  collecting  tribute  from 
the  other  tribes,  known  as  Ratas.  This  tribute  was 
raised  when  convenient  and  possible,  and  at  the  point 
of  the  sword,  for  the  natives  were  in  a  state  of  continual 
rebellion.  But  it  had  to  pass  through  many  greedy 
hands  on  its  way  to  the  treasury  at  Algiers,  and  but 
little  of  it  reached  its  destination. 

For  administrative  purposes  the  country  was 
divided  into  three  Beyliks  ;  one  of  el  Titteri,  south  of 
Algiers,  another  of  Constantine  to  the  east,  the  third  of 


1  « 


'  Maghzen  " — our    "  magazine  " — meant    originally   a    military    store. 
"  Raias  "  or  "  Rayahs,"  means  "  tributary." 


278  'TWIXT   SAND   AND   SEA 

Oran  to  the  west  ;  but  the  Beys  were  appointed  by  the 
Deys,  and  rose  and  fell  with  them,  so  that  here  also  there 
was  no  security  of  tenure,  and  consequently  no  stability 
or  continuity  of  policy  or  rule. 

The  nucleus  and  backbone  of  the  standing  army,  or 
Oudjak,  were  the  Yoldash,  or  infantry.  These  were 
pure  Turks,  all  others  being  jealously  excluded;  they 
constituted  or  elected  the  Divan,  and  were  the  real 
masters  of  Algiers,  making  and  unmaking  Deys  at  their 
will ;  the  only  check  upon  their  power  was  the  influence 
exerted  by  the  Taiffe,  the  strong  Corporation  of  the 
Reis  or  Captains  of  the  Corsairs.  They  were  not  kept 
continually  with  the  colours,  but  after  a  year's  active 
service  under  canvas  (Mehalla),  they  spent  a  year  in 
garrison  work  {Nourba),  followed  by  a  year's  leave  or 
rest  {Krezour).  The  cavalry  consisted  of  native  horse- 
men {Spahis),  and  Coulouglis — the  sons  of  Turks  by 
native  women,  for  the  Turks  did  not  bring  their  wives 
with  them  to  Algiers.  In  active  warfare  they  were  re- 
inforced by  the  tribesmen  of  the  Maghzen,  the  Zhen- 
touts,  a  picked  corps  of  the  most  infamous  pirates  of  the 
Mediterranean,  and  the  Zemala,  or  outlaws  from  other 
countries,  who  had  settled  and  been  given  land  in 
Algeria. 

Practically,  however,  Kheir-ed-din's  fame  rests 
upon  the  fact  that  he  was  the  founder  of  Algiers  as 
a  corsair  stronghold,  the  chosen  home  of  the  worst 
desperadoes  in  the  world.  Yet  at  first  the  rulers  of 
Algiers  were  not,  in  the  full  sense  of  the  word,  pirates. 
They  fought  the  Holy  War  against  infidels,  but  they 
did  it  as  subjects  of  Turkey;  they  respected  Powers 
which  were  at  peace  with  their  suzerain,  and  the 
government  was,  nominally  at  least,  in  the  hands  of  a 
Pacha  appointed  by  the  Sultan.  But  it  was  a  far  cry 
to  Constantinople  ;  the  links  with  Turkey  rapidly  grew  ' 


THE    CRESCENT   AND   THE   CROSS      279 

weaker  and  weaker,  and  the  real  power  passed  into 
the  hands  of  the  soldiery,  who  revived  the  glories 
of  the  old  Praetorian  Guard  of  Rome,  making  and 
unmaking  rulers  at  their  pleasure,  removing  any  un- 
popular Pacha  by  assassination,  and  keeping  the  real 
power  in  the  hands  of  their  own  commander  or  Agha. 
At  first  he  was  given  only  the  title  of  Dey,  or  Pro- 
tector, but  soon  the  two  offices  were  united,  and  he 
became  in  name,  what  he  had  long  been  in  fact,  the 
Pacha.^ 

Algiers  had  neither  trade  nor  commerce  ;  she  had 
no  business,  no  occupation,  no  adequate  source  of 
income,  save  piracy.  It  is  little  wonder  that  piracy 
was  soon  raised  to  the  level  of  an  exact  science. 
Soldiers,  sailors,  officials,  from  the  Dey  downwards, 
were  paid  out  of  its  profits.  No  prizes  meant  no  pay  ; 
and  so  the  success  of  the  captain,  or  Reis,  was  much 
more  important  than  his  methods.  All  comers  were 
welcome,  on  the  sole  condition  that  they  adopted  the 
faith  of  Islam,  a  condition  which  was  adequately  ful- 
filled by  renouncing  every  other.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
the  great  majority  of  the  pirate  captains  were  rene- 
gades ;  in  A.D.  1581  this  was  true  of  twenty-two  out 
of  thirty-six,  and  seven  years  later  of  twenty-four  out 
of  thirty-five.  Year  by  year  the  power  of  Algiers  and 
the  audacity  of  its  rovers  increased.  They  refused  to 
be  bound  by  any  treaty  longer  than  suited  their  con- 
venience. They  declined  to  be  on  friendly  terms  with 
more  than  two  or  three  Christian  powers  at  a  time,  in 
order  that  they  might  plunder  the  rest.  They  en- 
forced humiliating  terms  of  peace  and  restrictions  on 
commerce  ;  they  interfered  with  the  navigation  laws  ; 
they  claimed  the  right  to  search  every  vessel  they  met, 

^  1547-1587,   Beylerbeys ;    1587-1659,   Pachas,    appointed   triennially ; 
1659-1671,  Aghas;  1671-1830,  Deys. 


28o  'TWIXT   SAND   AND   SEA 

and  to  fix  the  number  of  passengers  that  each  might 
carry.  All  captives  were  sold  in  open  market  as 
slaves,  the  representatives  of  powerful  monarchs  were 
sent  to  work  in  the  mines,  or  were  blown  from  guns,  on 
the  smallest  provocation.  And  all  this,  so  amazing  to 
us,  was  possible  simply  because  each  Christian  Power 
in  turn  found  it  more  convenient  to  use  an  infamous 
horde  of  savages  as  a  scourge  for  other  Powers,  than 
to  join  with  the  rest  to  destroy  it.  It  was  not  until 
well  on  in  the  nineteenth  century,  when  the  Napoleonic 
wars  were  over,  that  Europe  was  sufficiently  united  to 
close  this  open  sore.  It  was  left  to  France  finally  to 
heal  it.' 

The  vessels  employed  by  the  Barbary  corsairs  were 
essentially  rowing-boats.  Even  when  they  carried  a 
mast  and  lateen  sail,  these  were  used  only  when  the 
weather  was  favourable,  and  in  search  of  prey.  Tack- 
ing or  beating  up  against  the  wind  were  little  under- 
stood, and  were  not  much  in  favour.  For  business, 
the  corsairs  trusted  entirely  to  the  oar.  The  craft 
used  in  the  Mediterranean  were  of  three  classes,  the 
galley,  the  galleot,  and  the  brigantine.  The  galley 
carried  a  crew  of  about  one  hundred  and  thirty  officers 
and  soldiers,  and  about  two  hundred  and  seventy 
rowers ;  these  were  all  Christian  slaves.  There  was  a 
deck  in  the  poop  for  the  officers,  the  Reis  who  com- 
manded the  ship,  and  the  Agha  who  commanded  the 
soldiers,  neither  of  these  being  subordinate  to  the 
other.  In  the  prow  there  was  another  deck  for  the 
soldiers.  The  waist,  where  the  rowers  sat,  was  open. 
Down  the  middle  ran  a  bridge  or  gangway,  for  the  use 
of  the  sailors  when  feeding  the  slaves,  and  of  the  boat- 
swains when  plying  the  whip.     Each  oar  was  about 

*  For  many  of  the   following  details   I  am  indebted   to   The  Barbary 
Corsairs^  by  Stanley  Lane  Poole,  in  "  The  Story  of  the  Nations  "  Series. 


THE    CRESCENT    AND    THE    CROSS      281 

fifteen  feet  long,  and  required  four  to  six  men  to 
pull  it. 

The  galleot  was  similar  in  character,  but  smaller. 
It  carried  about  one  hundred  soldiers  and  two  hundred 
sailors,  two  or  three  to  each  oar.  These  were  the  most 
popular  vessels.  Smallest  of  all  was  the  brigantine. 
This  carried  no  soldiers,  and  no  crew  except  the  rowers, 
who  were  therefore  Moslems,  not  slaves.  Only  one 
man  was  required  for  each  oar. 

The  Algerines  prided  themselves  upon  the  sharp  run 
of  their  vessels,  and  this  meant  that  but  very  little 
room  could  be  allotted  to  the  rowers.  Five  or  six 
men  at  a  single  oar  had  to  live  and  work  in  a  space 
about  ten  feet  by  four  ;  this  was  their  home,  night  and 
day,  for  about  six  months  at  a  stretch.  A  strong  man 
would  pull  an  oar  for  about  twenty  years. 

The  slaves  were  chained  to  the  benches,  on  which 
they  sat  when  not  at  work  ;  for  rowing  they  had  to 
stand.  In  rowing  the  arms  were  stretched  straight 
out,  and  the  head  held  low,  to  escape  the  backs  of  the 
men  in  front,  and  the  oar  of  the  men  behind.  When 
at  full  reach  forward,  the  handle  of  the  oar  was  raised 
to  catch  the  water,  and  the  rowers,  with  one  foot  on  the 
stretcher  and  one  on  the  bench  in  front,  so  as  to  get 
their  full  weight  on,  flung  themselves  back,  with  all 
their  might,  upon  the  bench  behind  them.  In  the  case 
of  a  stern  chase,  proverbially  a  long  one,  this  tremen- 
dous, heart-breaking  work  had  to  be  kept  up  for  ten, 
twelve,  or  even  twenty  hours  without  intermission  or 
relaxation.  Sailors  walked  up  and  down  the  gangway 
and  put  bits  of  bread  dipped  in  wine  into  the  rowers' 
mouths,  but  it  was  considered  that  the  slaves  worked 
better  on  an  empty  stomach,  and  the  boatswains  pre- 
ferred to  trust  to  the  whip.  If  the  men  were  working 
well,  they  were  scourged  to  encourage  them ;  if  a  man 


282  'TWIXT   SAND   AND   SEA 

flagged,  he  was  scourged  harder  ;  if  he  sank  down,  he 
was  scourged  until  he  got  up  and  set  to  work  again  ;  if, 
finally,  he  could  not  rise,  he  was  thrown  overboard.^ 

When  a  Christian  vessel  was  captured,  the  rowers 
were  set  free,  and  the  crew,  soldiers,  gentlemen  ad- 
venturers. Knights  of  Rhodes  or  Malta,  as  the  case 
might  be,  were  chained  to  the  benches  in  their  places, 
and  the  ship,  in  charge  of  a  prize  crew,  was  sent  straight 
to  Algiers.  There  she  was  at  once  boarded  by  the 
port  officials,  the  liberated  slaves  were  landed,  and  the 
oars  were  dropped  into  the  water  and  towed  ashore  to 
prevent  all  fear  of  escape.  The  cargo  was  sold  ;  the 
Government  claimed  one-fifth  to  one-eighth  of  the 
value,  and  the  hulks.  The  rest  was  divided  between 
the  owners  and  the  crew,  who  received  no  regular  pay. 
The  captives  were  carefully  examined  and  divided  into 
two  categories,  those  who  should  be  sold  for  work,  and 
those  who  were  to  be  held  to  ransom.  They  were  at 
once  put  up  for  sale.  Of  the  price  offered  sixty  zequins 
per  head  was  given  to  the  captors.  The  rest  belonged  to 
the  Dey,  and  was  paid  into  the  Khrasn^,  or  Treasury. 

It  is  said  that  slaves  were  treated  with  tolerable 
kindness.  With  regard  to  those  who  were  held  for 
ransom,  this  may  be  accepted  as  true  ;  in  fact  they  were 
hardly  treated  as  slaves  at  all.  In  respect  to  others, 
the  statement  requires  considerable  modification.  The 
life  of  the  galley  slaves  has  been  described.  All  that 
can  be  said,  at  the  best,  is  that  the  brutaUty  of  their 
treatment  was  not  gratuitous  or  inflicted  merely  for 
the  pleasure  of  giving  pain  ;  and  the  same  was  pro- 
bably true  of  other  slaves.  Their  owners  wanted  to 
get  all  the  work  they  could  out  of  them,  and  were 
absolutely  callous  as  to  the  means  that  were  used. 

^  Derniers  Jours  de  la  Marine  a   Rames,   Jarien  de  la  Gravi^re.     Cf. 
Barbary  Corsairs^  p.  215. 


THE   CRESCENT   AND   THE   CROSS      283 

The  lot  of  the  slave,  like  that  of  a  mule  or  ox,  depended 
upon  the  character  of  his  taskmaster  and  of  the  work 
to  which  he  was  put. 

As  no  Mohammedan  could  be  held  in  slavery  by  a 
brother  Moslem,  it  may  seem  strange  that  so  few  pur- 
chased their  freedom  by  apostasy.  But  this  possibility 
had  been  foreseen  and  was  carefully  guarded  against 
by  the  owners,  to  whom  the  bodies  of  their  slaves  were 
of  more  account  than  their  souls.  If  any  slave  showed 
symptoms  of  approaching  conversion,  he  was  promptly 
bastinadoed  into  a  better  frame  of  mind.  An  excep- 
tion to  this  rule  was,  however,  sometimes  made  by  a 
Reis  in  favour  of  some  particularly  strong  or  active 
member  of  his  crew.  The  renegades  who  commanded 
the  ships  had  not,  as  a  rule,  been  slaves.  Christian 
renegades  were  called  ulouj — savages  or  infidels,  Jews 
were  known  as  selami — a  word  of  doubtful  origin  and 
meaning. 

To  some,  however,  no  mercy  was  shown  ;  these  were 
Moslems  who  had  been  converted  to  Christianity, 
slaves  who  had  tried  to  escape,  or  had  struck  or  injured 
a  Moslem.  Women  were  degraded  to  the  Moham- 
medan level. 

The  story  of  the  martyrdom  of  Geronimo  by  the 
Pacha  Ali,  a  Calabrian  renegade,  deserves  notice, 
partly  as  a  typical  instance  of  Algerian  methods,  and 
partly  because  of  its  dramatic  sequel. 

It  was  about  the  year  a.d.  1536  when,  amongst  the 
prisoners  brought  into  Oran  by  the  Spaniards  after  a 
raid  on  some  troublesome  Arab  tribes,  was  a  boy  of 
about  four  years  old.  With  the  others  he  was  put  up  for 
sale  as  a  slave.  He  was  bought  by  the  Vicar-General, 
Juan  Caro,  brought  up  as  a  Christian,  and  baptized 
by  the  name  of  Geronimo.  During  an  outbreak 
of  plague  in  a.d.  1542,  Geronimo  escaped,  returned 


284  'TWIXT   SAND   AND   SEA 

home,  and  for  some  years  lived  as  a  Mohammedan. 
In  May  a.d.  1559,  at  the  age  of  twenty-five  years,  he 
determined  to  leave  his  home,  to  return  to  Oran,  and 
once  more  to  adopt  Christianity.  He  was  received  by 
his  old  master,  Juan  Caro,  married  to  an  Arab  girl 
who  was  also  a  Christian,  and  enrolled  in  one  of  the 
squadrons  called  "  Cuadrillas  de  Campo." 

In  May  1569  he  was  sent  from  Oran  with  nine 
companions  to  surprise  a  village  or  Douar  on  the 
seashore.  On  this  expedition  he  was  taken  prisoner 
by  a  couple  of  Tetuan  brigantines,  and  carried  to 
Algiers,  to  be  once  more  sold  as  a  slave.  When  a  body 
of  slaves  was  brought  in,  the  Pacha  had  a  right  to 
choose  one  in  every  ten  for  himself,  and  thus  Geronimo 
passed  into  the  hands  of  Ali.  Every  effort  was  made 
to  induce  him  to  renounce  Christianity  once  more,  and 
to  return  to  Islam,  but  in  vain.  The  Pacha  was  then 
engaged  in  building  a  fort  called  the  Bordj-Setti- 
Takelilt  (named  afterwards,  for  some  unknown  reason, 
"Le  Fort  des  Vingt-Quatre  Heures"),  to  protect 
the  water-gate,  Bab-el-Oued,  of  Algiers.  On  Sep- 
tember 18,  A.D.  1569,  he  sent  for  Geronimo  and  gave 
him  the  choice  of  either  at  once  renouncing  Christi- 
anity, or  being  buried  alive  in  one  of  the  great  cases 
in  which  blocks  of  concrete  were  being  made  for 
the  construction  of  the  fort.  It  was  then  half -past 
twelve  o'clock. 

But  the  faith  of  Geronimo  was  not  to  be  shaken. 
The  chains  were  then  struck  off  his  legs,  he  was  bound 
hand  and  foot,  and  thrown  into  the  case  of  concrete. 
A  Spanish  renegade  called  Tamango,  who  had  become 
a  Moslem  under  the  name  of  Djafar,  leapt  in  upon  him, 
and  with  his  heavy  mallet  hammered  him  down  into 
the  concrete.  The  block  was  then  built  up  into  the 
north  wall  of  the  fort,  but  its  position  was  noted  and 


THE   CRESCENT   AND   THE   CROSS      285 

remembered  by  ''Michael  of  Navarre,"  a  Christian 
and  master  mason,  who  was  making  the  concrete. 
The  facts  were  collected  by  Don  Diego  de  Haedo,  and 
printed  in  his  Topography  of  Algiers. 

In  A.D.  1853  the  French  found  it  necessary  to 
remove  the  fort.  At  half-past  twelve  on  December 
27  of  that  year,  the  explosion  of  a  mine  split  one  of 
the  blocks  of  concrete  and  revealed  the  bones  of 
Geronimo,  which  had  lain  in  their  strange  tomb  for 
nearly  three  hundred  years.  The  block  containing  the 
bones  has  been  placed  in  the  cathedral,  but  as  the  relics 
have  obstinately  refused  to  work  a  miracle,  the  title  of 
Geronimo  to  be  a  saint  has  not  been  made  good.  ''  Ossa 
venerahilis  servi  Dei  Geronimi,"  so  runs  the  epitaph. 

A  plaster  cast  taken  of  the  cavity  shows  the  arms 
of  Geronimo  still  bound,  but  in  the  awful  struggles  of 
suffocation  his  legs  had  broken  loose. 

In  the  seventeenth  century  changes  were  intro- 
duced which,  though  at  first  they  seemed  only  to 
develop  the  trade,  by  extending  the  field  of  its  opera- 
tions, eventually  proved  its  ruin.  In  a.d.  1601  a 
Flemish  buccaneer  named  Simon  Danser  put  his 
services  at  the  disposal  of  the  Pacha,  and  taught  the 
Algerian  shipwrights  to  build  larger  vessels.  These 
were  the  galliase,  which  carried  seven  hundred  men 
and  three  hundred  rowers,  and  was  rigged  with  three 
masts,  and  the  galleon,  which  was  larger  still,  and  was 
decked  throughout.  It  was  clear  that  vessels  of  this 
size  must  trust  mainly,  if  not  entirely,  to  sails  ;  in 
fact  the  galleon  carried  no  rowers  at  all.^     Moreover, 

^  These  vessels  were  manned  throughout  by  Mohammedans,  the  car- 
penter being  the  only  Christian  on  board.  Every  Moslem  to  whom  the 
Reis  gave  a  zequin  was  obliged  to  serve  for  one  voyage,  which  lasted,  as  a 
rule,  from  forty  to  fifty  days.  The  first  man  to  board  a  prize  received  a 
slave  worth  at  least  two  hundred  zequins.  When  the  prize-money  was 
divided,  the  Reis  received  forty  shares,  every  sailor  three,  and  every  soldier 
one  and  a  half. 


286  TWIXT   SAND    AND    SEA 

the  Powers  began  to  adopt  what  may  be  called  stand- 
ing navies  ;  and  against  a  fleet,  or  even  a  considerable 
squadron,  the  dashing  tactics  of  the  corsairs  were  of 
little  avail.  The  Algerian  fleet  had  never  been  a  large 
one,  or  accustomed  to  work  together.  At  the  end  of 
the  sixteenth  century  it  numbered  only  thirty-five  or 
thirty-six  galleys,  and  they  seldom  attacked  more  than 
two  or  three  vessels  at  a  time.  Moreover,  the  expulsion 
of  the  last  Moors  from  Spain,  in  a.d.  i6io,  robbed  them 
of  their  last  sympathisers  and  allies  in  Europe. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  small  rowing  craft  which 
they  had  hitherto  employed  were  suitable  only  for 
short  dashes,  and  practically  confined  their  operations 
to  the  Mediterranean.  With  the  larger  vessels,  fully 
rigged,  decked,  and  with  a  high  freeboard,  they  were 
able  to  undertake  long  voyages  and  face  the  storms  of 
the  Atlantic.  In  a.d.  1627  the  Reis  Mourad  pene- 
trated as  far  as  to  Iceland,  and  brought  back  eight 
hundred  prisoners.  In  a.d.  1631  he  made  a  descent 
on  Baltimore,  in  Ireland,  and  carried  off  two  hundred 
and  thirty-seven  prisoners  ;  in  a.d.  1640  another  raid 
was  made  near  Penzance,  when  about  sixty  were  cap- 
tured. There  were  at  this  time  twenty-five  thousand 
Christian  slaves  in  Algiers  alone,  of  whom,  as  is  shown 
by  a  petition  to  the  King,  dated  October  2,  a.d.  1640, 
three  thousand  were  English. 

Sir  Lambert  Playfair,  in  his  profoundly  interesting 
book.  The  Scourge  of  Christendom,  gives  an  account 
of  the  capture  and  fate  of  a  party  of  these  unfortunates, 
which,  as  the  book  is  not  easy  to  obtain,  I  venture  to 
give  in  some  detail. 

On  August  16,  A.D.  1727,  a  detachment  of  the 
Irish  Regiment,  celebrated  for  its  romantic  zeal  in  the 
service  of  the  Pretender,  but  at  that  time  in  the  service 
of  Spain,  was  overtaken  by  Algerian  corsairs  on  its 


THE    CRESCENT    AND    THE    CROSS      287 

way  from  Majorca  to  the  mainland.  The  first  Zebique 
they  boarded,  drove  the  Turks  overboard,  and  hoisted 
the  colours  of  the  Reggimento  di  Hibernia,  the  flag  of 
Ireland,  a  red  cross  on  a  white  ground.  Another 
larger  vessel  then  bore  down  upon  them,  and,  their 
powder  being  exhausted,  they  were  compelled  to  sur- 
render. The  party  consisted  of  a  lieutenant-colonel, 
six  captains,  ten  subs.,  about  sixty  privates,  and 
some  ladies.  Amongst  these  was  Mrs.  Jones,  formerly 
Mrs.  Joseph  Tichbourne  of  Stanfields,  with  her 
daughter,  Nancy,  married  to  Captain  O'Reilly,  and 
her  two  young  children.  The  rest  of  the  story  is  told 
by  the  Rev.  Thomas  Bolton,  Chaplain  to  the  Consulate 
at  Algiers. 

Mrs.  Jones  was  sitting  with  her  youngest  child  at 
the  door  of  the  house  where  she  resided,  when  a  Turk 
came  up  and  began  to  importune  her,  giving  her  the 
choice  of  compliance  or  death.  She  retreated  into  an 
inner  room  and  thence  into  a  loft,  accessible  only  by  a 
ladder,  which  she  pulled  up  after  her.  The  Turk  then 
seized  the  child,  drew  his  sword,  and  proceeded  to 
wound  it  in  one  arm.  The  mother  shrieked,  and  he 
wounded  it  on  the  other  arm.  At  last  he  cut  off  one 
hand  and  threw  it  at  her,  whereupon  she  seized  half 
a  broken  millstone,  threw  it  down  upon  the  Turk,  and 
broke  his  leg. 

He  then  murdered  the  child,  cut  off  its  head,  and 
discharged  his  pistols  at  the  woman,  but  without 
effect.  The  latter  watched  her  opportunity,  and,  with 
the  other  half  of  the  millstone  crushed  him  in  such  a 
manner  as  to  render  him  insensible.  She  then  de- 
scended, despatched  him  with  his  own  sword,  put  her 
mangled  child  in  a  basket,  and  went  and  gave  herself 
up  to  the  Dey. 

The  sequel  is  unknown,  but  only  one  is  possible. 


288  'TWIXT    SAND   AND   SEA 

Here  is  an  account  of  the  execution  of  a  young  Christian 
who  killed  his  master  under  provocation  not  less 
terrible.  "  He  was  dragged  to  the  place  of  execution 
over  rough  and  pointed  stones.  On  his  arrival  there 
he  was  crucified  against  a  wall  with  four  large  nails  :  a 
red-hot  iron  was  thrust  through  his  cheeks  to  prevent 
him  from  speaking,  and  in  this  condition  he  was 
slowly  burnt  to  death  with  firebrands." 

Now  and  again  an  effort  was  made  to  put  an  end  to 
these  atrocities.  In  a.d.  1655,  Cromwell,  who  knew 
his  own  mind,  sent  Robert  Blake  with  a  squadron  to 
deal  with  the  matter.  Blake  visited  Tunis  first,  and 
after  vainly  endeavouring  to  get  satisfaction  from  the 
Bey,  sailed  to  Porto  Farina,  the  winter  quarters  of  the 
fleet.  There  he  found  the  Tunisian  fleet,  hauled  close 
to  the  shore,  and  strongly  defended  by  the  guns  of  the 
forts,  by  earthworks  thrown  up  for  the  purpose,  as 
well  as  by  an  army  of  several  thousand  horse  and  foot. 
He  marked  his  recognition  of  the  gravity  of  the  occa- 
sion by  having  divine  service  performed  with  great 
solemnity  on  board  every  vessel  of  his  squadron. 
Then  on  April  4,  "  very  early  we  entered  with  the 
fleet  into  the  harbour,  and  anchored  before  their 
castles,  the  Lord  being  pleased  to  favour  us  with  a 
gentle  gale  off  the  sea,  which  cast  all  the  smoke  upon 
them,  and  made  our  work  the  more  easy ;  for  after  some 
hours'  dispute  we  set  on  fire  all  their  ships,  which  were 
nine  in  number,  and  the  same  favourable  gale  still 
continuing,  we  retreated  out  again  into  the  roads." 

Surely  never  was  a  heroic  action  described  in  more 
modest  words. 

Blake  then  sailed  for  Algiers,  where  he  found  things 
much  simplified  by  his  victory.  His  demands  were 
compHed  with  without  hesitation,  and  all  British 
slaves  were  released  on  payment  of  a  moderate  ransom. 


THE    CRESCENT   AND   THE    CROSS       289 

Nor  was  this  the  only  instance  of  vigorous  and 
successful  action.  On  August  12,  A.D.  1670,  Sir 
Thomas  Allen  sighted  and  destroyed  six  of  the  best 
vessels  of  the  Algerian  fleet ;  a  few  months  later,  on 
May  8,  a.d.  1671,  his  second-in-command,  Sir  Edward 
Spragg,  drove  another  squadron  into  the  harbour  of 
Bougie  and  burnt  it  there.  But  such  cases  were  rare 
and  spasmodic,  and  Sir  Lambert  Playfair's  pages  are 
filled  with  the  humiliating  record  of  futile  negotia- 
tions, half-hearted  attacks,  mean  intrigues,  and  still 
meaner  compliances. 

At  last,  in  a.d.  1816,  a  more  serious  effort  was  made 
to  put  an  end  to  the  scandal.  Lord  Exmouth  was  sent 
to  Algiers  with  a  sufficient  fleet  and  a  free  hand.  On 
August  25,  the  battle  of  Algiers  was  fought,  in  which 
the  Algerian  fleet  was  destroyed  and  the  fortifications 
seriously  damaged.  But,  from  the  sea,  the  town  was 
impregnable,  and  no  troops  were  landed  to  attack  it  on 
its  vulnerable  side.  In  a  word,  no  sustained  effort  was 
made  to  capture  or  to  occupy  the  place ;  and  so  the 
demonstration  ended  in  nothing ;  and  it  was  not  until 
A.D.  1830  that  the  celebrated  "  Coup  d'Eventail " 
which  the  Dey  Husein  dealt  the  French  Consul,  Deval, 
decided  France  to  take  final  and  determined  action. 
On  June  14  an  army  thirty-seven  thousand  strong 
was  landed  at  Sidi  Ferrouch  under  the  command  of 
General  de  Bourmont.  On  June  19  a  decisive  battle 
was  fought  at  Staoueli ;  on  July  4  the  Fort  de 
I'Empereur  was  blown  up  by  its  defenders;  on  the 
following  day,  July  5,  Husein  capitulated,  the  French 
entered  Algiers,  and  North  Africa  entered  on  a  new 
life  of  civiHsation  and  recovery  as  a  French  colony. 


CHAPTER   XVII 
THE   LAIR  OF  THE   CORSAIRS 

Sir  Lambert  Playfair  used  to  say  that,  with  the 
exception  of  that  from  the  Greek  theatre  at  Taormina, 
the  view  from  his  house  at  El  Biar  was  the  most 
heautiful  on  the  Mediterranean.  The  two  are  so 
different  that  it  is  not  easy  to  compare  them.  There 
are  no  precipices  at  Algiers  like  those  which  drop  from 
Taormina  to  Giardini,  no  wooded  islands,  no  back- 
ground of  rugged  mountain  heights — above  all,  no 
Etna  with  its  eternal  snows  and  fires.  In  truth, 
Algiers  is  much  more  like  Naples.  There  is  the  same 
wide  sweep  of  bay,  the  same  white  town  climbing  the 
hill,  the  same  general  effects  of  luxuriant  verdure. 
But  even  here  Algiers  suffers  by  the  comparison.  It 
is  all  on  a  smaller  scale  ;  we  miss  the  historic  Vesuvius  ; 
above  all,  we  miss  the  lovely  islands  of  Ischia  and 
Capri,  which  hang  like  golden  clouds  on  the  horizon  at 
the  two  extremities  of  the  bay. 

It  is  better  to  take  Algiers  as  it  is,  for  it  is  very 
beautiful ;  perhaps  more  so  now  that  the  town  has 
spread  far  and  wide,  and  the  snowy  French  villas  peep 
through  the  trees  of  Mustapha,  El  Biar,  and  Bouzarea, 
than  when  the  hills  were  bare,  and  the  savage  strong- 
hold of  the  Turks  kept  the  Christian  world  at  bay. 

The  town  lies  in  a  bay,  which  sweeps  round  from 
Pointe  Pescade  to  the  north-west  to  Cap  Matifou  to 
the  east.  As  we  c'ome  in  from  the  sea  it  is  still  possible 
to  trace  the  outline  of  what  remains  of  the  Turkish 
town,  but  only  by  the  flat  roofs,  the  glaring  whiteness, 


THE    LAIR    OF    THE    CORSAIRS         291 

and  the  apparent  absence  of  streets.  The  old  walls 
and  forts  and  gates  are  gone,  especially  the  grim 
fortifications  of  the  sea  front.  Indeed,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  a  few  houses  near  the  Mole,  the  whole  of 
that  part  of  the  town  has  been  swept  away  to  make 
room  for  the  French  Boulevards  and  open  Places. 

Of  the  Roman  Icosium,  never  a  place  of  much 
importance,  no  trace  now  remains.  It  is  said  that 
the  Rue  de  la  Marine  follows  the  line  of  the  old  street, 
and  that  the  Roman  pillars  which  now  line  the  Djama 
Kebira  belonged  to  it  ;  but  even  this  is  doubtful. 

No  trustworthy  map  or  description  of  Turkish 
Algiers  exists,  and  we  are  left  to  reconstruct  it,  as  best 
we  may,  from  chance  notices  in  the  writings  of  men  hke 
Cervantes,  Haedo,  and  Venture  de  Paradis.  To  do  this 
— in  outline,  at  any  rate — is  not  difficult. 

The  town  faced  due  east.  In  shape  it  was  an 
almost  perfect  triangle,  each  side  measuring  some 
half  a  mile  in  length.  Its  population  was  about  fifty 
thousand,  of  whom  not  more  than  one-tenth  were 
Turks. ^ 

The  apex  of  the  triangle,  at  the  top  of  the  steep 
hill,  was  occupied  by  the  Kasbah.  If  from  this  we 
draw  two  lines,  one  south-east  along  the  Boulevard 
Gambetta  to  the  Square  de  la  Republique,  and  the 
other  through  the  Boulevard  Vallee  to  the  Lycee,  we 
have  the  outline  of  the  city  as  the  French  found  it  in 
A.D.  1830. 

On  its  two  land  sides  it  was  defended  by  a  wall, 
ten  feet  thick  and  thirty-five  to  forty  feet  high,  streng- 
thened with  towers  at  irregular  intervals  ;  outside  this 
ran  a  deep  waterless  fosse.  There  were  no  faubourgs, 
but,  according  to  Venture  de  Paradis,  there  were  no 

*  This  is  the  estimate  of  Venture  de  Paradis,  and  is  confirmed  by  Mr. 
Shaler. 


292  'TWIXT    SAND   AND    SEA 

fewer  than  ten  thousand  villas,  each  surrounded  by  a 
lofty  wall,  on  the  neighbouring  hills. 

The  number  of  gates  is  given  differently  by  various 
writers.     Probably  there  were  five.^ 

On  the  sea  front  there  were  two,  one  at  the  head  of 
the  Mole  of  Kheir-ed-Din,  the  other,  called  the  Fishers' 
Gate,  to  the  south,  near  the  present  Sante. 

In  the  north  wall  there  was  only  one,  the  Bab  el 
Oued,  or  Water  Gate.  It  stood  where  the  present 
street  of  that  name  passes  the  Lycee.  Outside  this 
gate  was  the  place  of  execution  for  Christians  and 
Jews.  Christians  were  either  beheaded  or  strangled. 
The  former  sentence  was  carried  out  by  the  Turkish 
soldiers  ;  the  latter  was  executed  by  some  passing 
Christian  or  Jew  who  was  impressed  for  the  service, 
for  no  Mohammedan  would  hang  or  strangle  a  man. 
Women  condemned  to  death  were  drowned.  Jews 
were  burnt.  In  addition  to  this,  they  were  com- 
pelled to  wear  a  special  dress,  either  black  or  white ; 
they  were  forbidden  under  any  circumstances  to  resist 
or  resent  an  injury,  to  mount  a  horse,  or  to  carry  any 
weapon,  even  a  stick ;  they  had  to  pay  double  taxes, 
and  were  allowed  to  pass  through  the  gates  only  on 
Wednesday  and  Saturday.  After  dark  every  one  was 
obliged  to  carry  a  lighted  lantern,  except  a  Jew,  who 
had  to  carry  his  light  bare,  and  was  punished  if  it  went 
out.  They  were,  however,  allowed  to  buy  slaves  in 
the  open  market,  a  privilege  which  was  refused  to 
Christians.  Outside  this  gate  were  the  Christian  and 
Jewish  cemeteries.^ 

The  Bab  el  Oued  was  protected  by  no  fewer  than 
four  forts.     Close  to   the  waterside  stood  the  Bordj 

^  Mr.  Shaler  says  four.  The  doubt  is  about  the  Fisher's  Gate.  Perhaps 
this  was  only  a  postern. 

'  In  old  age  the  Jews  often  divided  the  bulk  of  their  property  among 
their  heirs,  and  journeyed  to  Jerusalem  in  order  to  die  and  be  buried  there. 


THE    LAIR    OF    THE    CORSAIRS         293 

el  Djedid,  or  New  Fort.  This,  however,  was  never 
finished,  or,  at  any  rate,  never  armed.  On  the  site  of 
the  modern  esplanade  stood  the  Bordj  Setti  Takelett, 
or  Holy  Negress,  armed  with  thirty-four  guns.  The 
French  gave  it  the  name  of  the  Fort  des  Vingt-quatre 
Heures.  This  was  the  scene  of  the  martyrdom  of  Gero- 
nimo.  Farther  off,  between  the  church  of  Notre  Dame 
d'Afrique  and  the  sea,  stood  the  Fort  des  Anglais, 
armed  with  twenty-two  guns.  On  Pointe  Pescade 
stood  the  fourth,  known  as  the  Castle  of  Barbarossa, 
and  armed  with  twenty-one  guns. 

By  the  Bab  el  Oued  entered  the  only  thoroughfare 
of  the  town  ;  it  followed  roughly  the  line  of  the  present 
Rues  Bab  el  Oued  and  Bab  Azoun.  It  was  called  the 
Souk  el  Kebir,  or  Great  Market,  from  the  stalls  with 
which  it  was  lined.  Although  it  was  the  largest  and 
most  important  highway  in  all  Algiers,  it  was  nowhere 
more  than  ten  feet  wide. 

This  road  left  the  town  by  the  Bab  Azoun,  or  Gate 
of  Weeping,  which  stood  on  the  site  of  the  present 
Place  de  la  Republique.    This  was  the  place  of  execu- 
tion for  Turks  and  natives;  from  each  side  projected 
horrible  hooks  of  iron  on  which  the  worst  offenders 
were  impaled  and  left  to  die  by  inches.^    This  gate 
was  protected  by  the  Fort  Bab  Azoun,  and  another 
I  which  stood  on  Cap  Matifou,  armed  with  twenty-two 
I  guns.     Close  to  this  gate  and  just  inside  the  wall,  stood 
I  a  Kouba  of  great  sanctity — the  tomb  of  Sidi  Dede  Weli, 
I  the   marabout   who   foretold,   and,   it   was   believed, 
'  caused,  the  great  tempest  which  destroyed  the  Spanish 
I  fleet  in  a.d.  1541,  and  saved  Algiers  from  Doria  and 
j  the  Emperor  Charles  V. 

This  mosque,  with  that  of  Sidi  Abd  el  Kader  which 

^  In  1830  the  French  found  the  heads  and  bodies  of  many  Europeans 
I  impaled  on  this  gate. 


294  'TWIXT    SAND    AND    SEA 

stood  hard  by  outside  the  wall,  and  that  of  Sidi  Abd  er 
Rahman,  were  places  of  sanctuary  for  criminals. 

Higher  up  the  hill,  where  the  wall  joined  the 
Kasbah,  was  the  last  of  the  gates,  the  Bab  el  Djedid, 
or  New  Gate,  by  which  the  French  entered  on  July  5, 
1830. 

This  gate  was  originally  protected  by  two  forts, 
but  one  of  them,  the  Fort  de  I'Etoile,  had  been  blown 
up  by  a  slave,  and  no  longer  existed  in  a.d.  1830.  The 
other  was  the  most  important  of  all,  and  was,  in  fact, 
the  key  of  Algiers.  This  was  the  Fort  de  I'Empereur, 
begun  by  Charles  V.  in  a.d.  1541,  and  completed  by 
Hassan  Pacha  eight  years  later.  It  was  armed  with 
seventy-seven  guns,  and  stood  a  little  to  the  south- 
west of  the  Kasbah.  Its  capture  by  the  French 
rendered  the  town  untenable  and  was  the  signal  for 
its  surrender. 

The  impregnable  fortifications,  armed  with  two 
hundred  and  fourteen  guns,  which  protected  the  sea 
front,  have  been  entirely  destroyed,  or  lie  buried,  like 
the  houses  of  the  Baglione  at  Perugia,  under  the 
rampes  and  quays  of  the  great  Boulevard  de  la  R^- 
publique,  which  now  stretches  from  the  Square  de  la 
R^publique  to  the  Place  du  Gouvernement.^ 

About  midway  between  the  Bab  Azoun  and  the 
Bab  el  Oued,  the  shore  bends  forward  into  a  point,  off 
which,  at  a  distance  of  some  two  or  three  hundred 
yards,  lies  the  Rock  or  Pefion,  which  in  a.d.  1509  Pedro 
Navarro  fortified  for  the  Spaniards  to  overawe  the 
town.  It  is  now  the  only  remaining  one  of  the  islands 
which  gave  Algiers  its  name.  Twenty  years  later 
Kheir-ed-Din  took  it,  and  with  the  materials  of  the 
forts  which  he  destroyed,  built  the  mole  which  con- 

^  This  immense  work  was  carried  out  in  A.D.  1860-66  by  Sir  Morton 
Peto. 


I 


THE    LAIR    OF   THE    CORSAIRS         295 

nects  the  island  with  the  shore.  To  the  north  the 
rock  projects  only  a  little  way  beyond  the  mole.  At 
its  southern  extremity  a  second  mole  was  constructed, 
stretching  towards  the  shore,  thus  forming  a  tiny 
harbour,  capable  of  sheltering  about  fifty  vessels.  It 
is  hard  to  believe  that  this  insignificant  little  nook 
was  once  the  famous  lair  of  the  terrible  corsairs.  Now 
it  is  only  the  starting-point  of  the  Jetee  du  Nord  of 
the  great  French  harbour. 

Kheir-ed-Din  left  but  little  of  the  Spanish  work 
standing.  A  couple  of  handsome  gateways,  with  coats 
of  arms  over  them,  and  probably  the  core  of  the 
massive  bastion  on  which,  in  a.d.  1544,  Hassan  Pacha 
built  the  lighthouse,  are  all  that  now  remains  of  the 
"  Epine  plantee  au  coeur  des  Algeriens."  The  fine 
Arab  Gate  of  the  Lions  is  of  white  marble  and  richly 
coloured.  It  belonged  to  the  Bordj  Ras-el-Moul. 
The  house  of  the  Reis  is  now  occupied  by  the  admiral ; 
adjoining  it  is  a  pretty  little  marble  fountain.  The 
Turkish  fortifications  of  the  Peiion  mounted  one 
hundred  and  eighty-nine  guns. 

The  centre  of  French  life  in  Algiers  is  the  Place  du 
Gouvernement.  Its  construction  involved  the  removal 
of  the  finest  of  the  sixty  mosques  in  Algiers,  and 
threatened  the  existence  of  another. 

The  destroyed  Mosque  es  Saida,  which  stood  on  the 
site  of  the  present  Hotel  de  la  Rdgence,  replaced, 
according  to  tradition,  the  old  Christian  church  of 
Icosium.  It  is  said  that  the  seventy-two  white  marble 
columns  with  which  it  was  adorned  came  either  from 
the  church  or  from  the  town.  That  the  pillars,  which 
now  form  the  arcade  of  the  Great  Mosque,  are  Roman 
is  certain  ;  an  inscription  on  one  of  them  to  Lucius 
Ccecilius  Rufus,  son  of  Argilis,  puts  this  beyond  doubt  ; 
but,   according   to   Venture   de   Paradis,   they   were 


296  'TWIXT   SAND   AND    SEA 

brought  from  Genoa  ;  and  as  he  wrote  on  the  spot  soon 
after  the  mosque  was  erected,  this  is  probably  the 
truth. 

The  Djama  Djedid  was  also  doomed,  as  its  removal 
was  necessary  to  the  completion  of  the  Place.  Happily 
it  was  saved  by  the  remonstrances  of  Colonel  Lemercier, 
and  the  symmetry  of  the  great  Place  was  sacrificed 
instead.  The  Mirhab  of  the  Mosque  es  Saida  was 
brought  to  it. 

Adjoining  the  Place,  on  the  west,  and  between  it 
and  the  mosque  which  now  forms  the  cathedral,  was 
another  group  of  buildings  which  well  deserved  to  be 
spared.  This  was  the  Palace  of  the  Dey,  Dar  es 
Sultan,  known  as  the  Djenina  or  Garden.  It  was  here 
that  Selim  et  Teumi  was  strangled  in  his  bath  by  Baba 
Aroudj,  and  it  was  the  seat  of  government  until  a.d. 
1816,  when  the  last  Dey  but  one,  Ali  Khodja,  fled  from 
his  Janissaries  and  placed  himself  and  his  treasures 
under  the  protection  of  the  Berber  soldiers  in  the 
stronger  and  safer  quarters  of  the  Kasbah.  The 
entrance  was  marked  with  a  flagstaff  bearing  a  golden 
apple.  In  front  of  it  was  a  little  open  space — the  only 
one  in  all  Algiers — about  twenty-five  yards  square, 
and  adorned  with  a  marble  fountain.  One  pavilion 
has  been  spared  ;  it  was  known  as  the  "  Dar  bent 
es  Sultan,"  the  house  of  the  daughter  of  the  Dey. 
It  is  now  the  archbishop's  palace.  If  the  rest  was  as 
beautiful  as  this  fragment,  the  loss  is  indeed  great. 
The  palace  occupied  the  whole  of  the  space  now  sur- 
rounded by  the  Rues  du  Divan,  Bruce,  Djenina,  and 
Bab  el  Oued. 

Of  life  in  Algiers,  at  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  and 
beginning  of  the  nineteenth  centuries,  a  curiously  and 
unexpectedly  pleasant  picture  is  drawn  by  those  who 
knew  it.     The  Turkish  garrison  was  very  small,  num- 


I  THE    LAIR    OF   THE   CORSAIRS         297 

bering  less   than  two  thousand   men,   and  the    fleet 
which  flouted  the  world  was  insignificant.     In  March 
1825  it  consisted  of  only  fourteen  vessels,  of  all  ratings, 
carrying  350  guns.     There  were  three  frigates,  of  62, 
50,  and  40  guns  respectively  ;   two  corvettes,  45  and 
36  guns  ;  two  brigs,  18  and  16  guns  ;  five  schooners, 
24,  14,  and  14  guns,  and  two  unarmed  ;  one  polacca, 
20  guns  ;   and  one   zebeque,    10  guns.     The  captains 
knew  little  or  nothing  of  navigation,  and  were  obliged 
to  carry  Christian  or  other  slaves,  to  sail  their  ships 
for  them.     In  the  town  itself  the  life  and  property  of 
the  Turks — that  is,  of  those  who  took  part  in  political 
1  life — were  very  insecure,  but  great  wealth  accumulated 
I  in  the  hands  of  the  non-political  natives,  where  it  was 
perfectly  safe.     Nor  was  the  position  of  women  so  hard 
as  is  often  thought ;    the  property  of  heiresses  was 
;  secured  to  them  after  marriage,  and  with  regard  to 
,  their  seclusion,   "  they  are,"   says  Mr.   Shaler,   "  less 
slaves  to  their  husbands  than  to  custom  and  long- 
received  notions  of  propriety."     After  the  abandonment 
I  of  galleys  in  the  seventeenth  century  and  of  private 
cruising  in  1816,  the  number  of  slaves  decreased  and 
their  condition  became  more  bearable.     Ransom  was 
i  more  easy,  and  they  were  often  able  to  make  money  for 
themselves — some  made   a  great  deal — and  purchase 
1  their  own  freedom.     Of  the  town  itself,  we  are  assured 
Ij  that,  except  for  casual  emeutes  on  the  occasion  of  the 
;  murder  of  a  Dey — and  this  was  usually  arranged  for  a 
i  Monday  morning,  at  the  close  of  the  Divan — "  there  is  no 
I  city  in  the  world  where  there  is  a  more  vigilant  police, 
ij  or  where  there  is  better  security  for  Hfe  or  property." 
^  Doubtless,  according    to  our    ideas,  the   streets  were 
j  filthy,  but  the  houses,  numbering  from  eight  to  ten 
ii  thousand,    were   whitewashed    every   year,    and    the 
I  streets  were  provided  with  a  hundred  and  fifty  pubhc 


298  'TWIXT   SAND  AND    SEA 

fountains,  each  with  a  metal  cup  attached.  The  rules 
for  drawing  water  were  simple  and  precise  ;  Turks  took 
precedence  of  all  comers  ;  Christians  and  natives  filled 
their  vessels  in  turn  ;  Jews  had  to  wait  until  the  place 
was  absolutely  free. 

The  Arab  town,  when  once  you  find  your  way  into 
it  from  the  Rue  Ran  don,  is  a  perpetual  delight,  full  of 
picturesque  corners,  with  lights  and  shadows  which 
enchant  the  eye  and  are  the  despair  of  the  painter. 
It  is  a  maze  of  winding  and  intricate  streets,  without 
the  slightest  effort  at  directness  or  symmetry  of 
arrangement ;  so  steep  that,  where  not  actually  stairs, 
they  are  for  the  most  part  divided  into  the  long  sloping 
steps  which  the  Italians  call  cordonata,  and  so  narrow 
as  to  be  often  impassable  for  anything  larger  than  a 
mule — no  wheeled  vehicle  was  ever  seen  in  Algiers 
before  the  French  came.  Often  they  are  completely 
arched  over  ;  even  where  this  is  not  the  case,  the 
windowless  houses  project  forward,  step  by  step,  on 
wooden  struts  until  the  upper  stories  nearly  touch. 
The  houses  are  either  covered  with  the  eternal  white- 
wash, or  are  painted  blue ;  the  doorways  are  fre- 
quently beautifully  carved,  and,  in  the  case  of  mosques, 
zaouias,  hammams,  and  other  buildings  of  a  more  or 
less  sacred  character,  they  are  richly,  or  gaudily, 
painted  with  the  favourite  Moslem  colours,  red  and 
green.  The  doors  open  into  dehghtfully  tiled  entrance 
halls  or  skiff  a.  Beyond  these  it  is  of  course  impossible 
to  penetrate  without  special  invitation.  In  general 
arrangement  they  are  all  alike,  square,  built  round  an 
oust,^  or  little  court  like  a  Spanish  patio.  They  have 
flat  roofs,  and  no  windows,  or  only  small,  heavily 
barred  openings  high  up  in  the  wall.  In  the  heat  of 
summer,   a  curtain   is   drawn   over  the    open  patio. 

^  The  waist  or  middle. 


Rue  de  la  Kasbah,  Algiers 


I 


THE    LAIR    OF    THE    CORSAIRS         299 

Several  of  the  finest  houses  have  been  occupied  by  the 
French  and  are  open  to  inspection.  Chief  amongst 
these  is  the  governor's  winter  palace,  Dar  Hassan 
Pacha.  It  is  gaudy  and  may  have  been  beautiful, 
but  the  extensive  alterations  and  additions  made  by 
the  French  have  robbed  it  of  much  of  its  charm  and 
interest.  Close  by  is  the  palace  of  the  archbishop 
already  mentioned. 

Most  perfect  and  beautiful  of  all  is  the  public 
library,  installed  in  the  private  house  of  Mustapha- 
Pacha,  who  built  it  in  a.d.  1779,  and  was  murdered  in 
A.D.  1805.  The  skiff  a  is  covered  with  Delft  tiles, 
signed'' J. V.M."  (J.  van  Maak) ;  passing  through  it  we 
turn  to  the  left  into  the  oust,  or  patio  ;  it  is  a  square 
court  surrounded  by  two  stories  of  horseshoe  arches, 
decorated  with  tiles,  and  resting  on  slender  spiral 
columns  of  marble.  Between  the  columns  of  the 
upper  storey  runs  a  balustrade  of  carved  cedar  wood  ; 
the  dwelling-rooms  are  sacrificed  to  the  books.  In 
the  centre  of  the  patio  is  a  graceful  marble  fountain, 
its  basin  filled  with  bamboos,  and  bananas  stand  in 
the  four  corners.  To  sit  there  in  the  shade,  reading, 
on  a  hot  day,  with  the  sun  blazing  down  upon  dazzling 
colours  of  wood,  marble,  and  tiles,  and  filling  the  air 
with  vibrating  light  ;  to  feel  the  coolness  of  the  little 
breeze  which  makes  the  bamboos  tremble  and  the 
water  drip  outside  the  basin,  is  as  near  the  perfection 
of  luxurious  ease  as  a  student  can  desire. 

Of  the  original  Kasbah  little  remains.  It  was 
begun  by  the  one  Barbarossa  and  finished  by  the  other, 
to  take  the  place  of  the  ancient  Berber  fortress.  It 
did  not  become  a  royal  residence  until  a.d.  1816,  when 
Ali  Khodja  took  sanctuary  there,  and  stood  a  siege 
by  his  own  troops.  Ultimately  they  were  routed  and 
massacred,  but  the  Dey  did  not  dare  to  risk  a  return 


300  'TWIXT   SAND    AND   SEA 

to  the  lower  town,  so  he  and  his  successor  remained  at 
the  Kasbah  until  finally  driven  out  by  the  French. 

A  broad  road  has  been  driven  through  the  fortress, 
entirely  destro3dng  its  original  character  ;  on  passing 
through  the  strong  walls  there  is  a  disused  mosque, 
now  a  magazine,  on  one  side  of  the  road  and  an  ancient 
gateway  on  the  other.  The  private  apartments  of  the 
Dey  surround  a  court,  in  the  middle  of  which  is  a 
fountain  ;  amongst  them  a  little  room,  hardly  more 
than  a  recess,  is  shown  as  the  scene  of  the  "  Blow 
with  the  Fan  "  ;  the  apartments  are  handsome,  but  do 
not  require  special  notice.  Some  of  the  officers  are 
quartered  in  fine  old  houses,  but  these  are,  of  course, 
private.  Not  much  else  of  the  old  fort  has  been 
left. 

The  mosques  are  not  remarkably  fine  or  interesting. 
Three  of  them,  however,  deserve  notice  as  being  good 
specimens  of  the  three  different  t3^es  of  such  buildings 
which  we  find  in  North  Africa. 

The  Djama  Kebira,  or  Great  Mosque,  stands  close 
to  the  sea,  between  the  modern  Boulevard  de  France 
and  the  ancient  Rue  de  la  Marine,  at  the  head  of  the 
jetty  of  Kheir-ed-din.  It  is  of  the  ordinary  type  of 
Arab  mosques,  built  for  the  Malekite  rite,  and  dates 
from  the  tenth  or  eleventh  century.  A  fine  minaret 
was  added  in  a.d.  1324  by  Abou  Tachefin,  King  of 
Tlem^en.  Its  exterior  was  quite  plain,  but  in  a.d. 
1837  the  French  adorned  the  side  towards  the  Rue  de 
la  Marine  with  a  handsome  arcade  of  horseshoe  arches 
resting  upon  the  pillars  brought  from  the  Djama-es- 
Saida. 

The  interior  is  divided  into  eleven  aisles  by  heavy 
whitewashed  arcades  of  horseshoe  arches  resting  upon 
square  piers.  This  arrangement,  poor  and  clumsy, 
reminds  us  that  the  great  builders  of  North  Africa  and 


Zaouia  of  Sidi  Abd-er-Rahman,  Algiers 


THE    LAIR    OF    THE    CORSAIRS         301 

Spain  were  not  the  Arabs,  but  the  Moors  or  Berbers  ; 
and  that  even  they  very  seldom  carved  a  column  to 
beautify  the  houses  of  God.  If  they  could  not  take 
them  from  some  Roman  ruin  they  did  without  them. 

The  mirhab  and  the  cupboards  for  the  sacred  books 
are  fine  and  the  mimbar  old  and  quaint  :  an  inscription 
upon  it  gives  the  date  a.h.  409 — that  is,  a.d.  1018. 
The  adjoining  arches  are  scalloped,  but  it  may  be 
doubted  whether  this  is  an  improvement. 

Surrounded  on  three  sides  by  the  aisles  of  the 
mosque,  is  the  open  court,  green  and  shady  with  trees, 
and  beautified  with  a  lovely  fountain  for  ablutions. 
This,  as  usual,  consists  of  a  little  dome  resting  on  slender 
pillars  and  is  bright  with  tiles.  Seen  from  the  gloomy 
shadows  of  the  mosque,  the  effect  of  this  light  and 
shade,  green  leaf  of  trees  and  shimmer  of  marble  and 
burnished  tiles,  is  singularly  beautiful,  and  we  leave 
the  mosque  with  a  pleasant  recollection  of  quiet  and 
coolness  and  of  that  peculiar  solemnity  which  the  low 
roofs  and  numberless  aisles  never  fail  to  give. 

High  up  the  hill,  where  its  almost  precipitous  side 
seems  to  offer  the  least  possible  foothold  for  a  building, 
stands,  or  rather  hangs,  the  little  mosque  and  zaouia 
of  Sidi  Abd-er-Rahman  et  Tsalibi.  The  marabout 
round  whose  grave  the  buildings  have  gathered  lived 
in  the  first  half  of  the  fourteenth  century,  and  belonged 
to  the  Tsaliba  tribe,  which  dominated  the  Metidja 
before  the  coming  of  the  Turks.  In  spite  of  this,  the 
fame  of  his  learning  and  holiness  was  so  great  that  he 
has  retained  his  hold  on  the  affection  of  the  people, 
Turks  and  natives,  and  is  still  reverenced  as  the  patron 
saint  of  Algiers.  Whenever  a  corsair  left  the  harbour 
below,  he  saluted  first  the  Dar  es  Sultan  and  then  this 
mosque,  each  with  three  guns.  The  mosque  was  re- 
built by  the  Turkish  invaders  in  a.d.  1696.     It  is  an 


302  'TWIXT    SAND    AND    SEA 

exquisite  little  specimen  of  a  style  of  mosque  of  which 
the  largest  and  most  perfect  example  is  that  of  the 
Djama  Sidi  Sahab  at  Kairouan. 

Clinging  to  the  face  of  the  rock,  the  tiny  buildings 
stand,  literally  one  above  another.  Steep  narrow 
passages  or  flights  of  steps  lead  from  one  to  the  other. 
Highest  of  all  stands  the  mosque,  with  a  graceful 
minaret  divided  into  stages  of  pillared  arcades  by 
bands  of  burnished  tiles.  Lower  down  is  the  Kouba, 
where  the  saint  sleeps  under  his  dome.  A  gaudily 
draped  catafalque,  surrounded  by  a  beautiful  screen 
of  carved  cedar-wood,  covers  his  resting-place.  All 
round  stand  or  hang  votive  offerings  of  flags,  chande- 
liers, ostrich  eggs,  and  clocks  in  barbarous  and  most 
incongruous  profusion.  All  is  bizarre  and  tawdry, 
but,  as  is  always  the  case  in  the  wonderful  light,  not 
inharmonious  or  unpleasant. 

Other  buildings,  but  of  no  special  interest,  are 
those  belonging  to  the  zaouia,  and  the  little  house 
of  the  oukil  or  guardian.  Amongst  them  are  some 
beautiful  trees,  tiny  scraps  of  garden  and  equally  tiny 
cemeteries,  where  the  last  Bey  of  Constantine,  Ahmed,^ 
his  wives,  and  others  equally  favoured,  lie  at  rest.  It 
is  pleasant  indeed  to  linger  for  a  time  in  this  abode  of 
ancient  peace,  to  look  upwards  at  the  minaret,  its 
outline  dim  in  the  glorious  light,  or  down,  through 
the  trees  of  the  Jar  din  Marengo,  to  the  purple  sea 
beyond. 

Very  different  from  either  of  these,  and  interesting 
on  account  of  the  difference  rather  than  for  itself,  is 
the  new  mosque,  the  Djama  Djedid,  or,  as  it  is  now 
called,  from  the  fish  market  which  surrounds  it,  the 
"  Mosquee  de  la  Pecherie."  It  was  built  in  a.d.  1660 
by  the  Turkish  invaders  for  their  worship  according 

^  Ahmed  Pacha  died  in  A.D.  1850. 


E= 


J 


THE   LAIR   OF  THE   CORSAIRS         303 

I    to  the  Hanefite  rite  ;   for  Turks,  Arabs,  and  Berbers 
I    iiiffer  almost  as  much  in  rehgion  as  in  race. 
I  Its  position  is  remarkable  and  suggestive,  for  it 

I  stands  on  the  edge  of  the  new  Place  du  Gouvernement, 
between  the  Djama  Kebira  of  the  Arabs  on  one  side, 
and  Marochetti's  theatrical  statue  of  the  Due  d'Orleans 
on  the  other — the  last  three  conquerors  of  Africa, 
i  Arab,  Turkish,  and  French.  In  itself  it  is  a  plain, 
spacious,  unpretentious  building  enough,  which, 
though  it  lacks  the  dignity  of  the  mosques  of  Constanti- 
nople or  Cairo,  and  especially  their  light  and  graceful 
minarets,  belongs  entirely  to  the  Eastern  rather  than 
I   to  the  Western  type  of  building. 

I         In  form  it  is  a  Latin  cross,  crowned  with  a  central 

dome  surrounded  by  four  smaller  ones.     Its  shape  has 

j  given  rise  to  the  fable  that  its  architect  was  a  Christian 

I   slave,  who  was  crucified  for  thus  daring  to  stamp  the 

i   symbol  of  his  faith  on  a  Mohammedan  mosque.     A 

somewhat    similar    story    attaches    to    certain    rose 

windows  in  France  and  elsewhere,  that  they  were  the 

I   work  of  a  pupil  who  was  murdered  through  the  jealousy 

of  his  master. 

Except  for  the  vulgar  decoration  of  the  dome,  the 
1  interior  is  very  plain,  and  reminds  us  more  of  a  church 
than  of  a  mosque — a  lofty  nave,  choir,  and  transepts, 
;  with  a  plain  barrel  vault  carried  by  semicircular 
:  arches  resting  on  square  piers.  Round  the  building, 
,  just  above  the  arches,  runs  a  little  wooden  triforium  ; 
I  from  the  vault  hang  handsome  chandeliers,  and  in  each 
I  of  the  aisles  is  a  wooden  gallery.  The  mimbar,  instead 
I  of  being  a  flight  of  steps  with  standing-room  at  the 
j  top,  placed  against  the  wall  by  the  side  of  the  mirhab, 
I  stands  under  the  central  dome,  and  the  steps,  with  a 
!  door  at  the  bottom  and  a  canopied  landing  at  the  top, 
1  lead  to  the  large  wooden  platform  from  which  the 


304  'TWIXT   SAND  AND   SEA 

service  is  conducted.  The  mosque  possesses  one  great 
treasure,  the  copy  of  the  Koran  presented  to  the  Pacha 
by  the  Sultan  of  Constantinople. 

Such  was  Algiers  in  time  past,  under  Turkish  rule  ; 
and  such  is  it  now. 


PART    II 


u 


CHAPTER    I 

ROKNIA  AND   ITS   DOLMENS 

The  geography  of  North  Africa,  that  great  island 
between  the  seas  of  sand  and  water,  though  confused 
and  intricate  in  detail,  is  simple  enough  in  general 
outline. 

From  the  south  of  Morocco  the  vast  range  of  the 
Atlas  Mountains  runs  north-east  to  the  Gap  of  the 
Hodna.  Beyond  the  Gap,  under  the  name  of  the 
Aures,  the  mountains  run  almost  due  east  to  the 
frontier  of  Tunis,  where  they  spread  out  to  the  north 
and  south,  and  slope  towards  the  sea.  Along  the  sea- 
coast  to  the  north  runs  a  parallel  range  known  to  the 
west  of  Algiers  by  the  name  of  the  Ouarsenis,  and 
to  the  east  between  Algiers  and  Constantine  as  the 
Djurdjura  or  Mountains  of  Great  and  Little  Kabylia. 
Between  these  ranges  and  those  of  the  Atlas  lie  high 
upland  plateaux  or  steppes,  with  a  sufficiency  of  rain- 
fall to  make  them  fertile,  where  the  water  is  stored, 
and  with  rivers,  most  of  them  dry  in  summer,  which 
either  find  their  way  through  the  mountains,  to  be 
swallowed  up  in  the  sea  or  sand,  or  are  lost  in  the  great 
salt  shallows  or  swamps,  known  as  Chotts. 

"  A  land  of  sand  and  ruin  and  gold," 

thus  Swinburne  describes  North  Africa. 

Sand  indeed  there  is — sand  that  seems  to  stretch 

out  into  infinity ;   ruins,  too,  the  ruins  of  three  great 

civilisations  which    have   passed    away ;    gold    also ; 

though  it   is  no  material  gold,  or  material  wealth, 

307 


308  'TWIXT   SAND   AND    SEA 

of  which  at  present  North  Africa  is  full.  Rather  is 
it  the  gold  of  sunsets,  the  glory  of  the  golden  haze 
over  the  desert,  and  the  yellow  sand,  gleaming  in  the 
sunshine. 

North  Africa  is  a  land  of  tombs  also  ;  these  too  are 
mostly  ruins.  Up  and  down  the  length  and  breadth  of 
the  land  they  are  scattered.  Much  of  the  history  of 
the  different  peoples  who  have  successively  occupied 
this  coveted  country  may  be  traced  in  them  ;  gener- 
ally, the  story  of  their  race  and  stage  of  development ; 
the  story  of  their  religions  also — a  varied  one,  for  many 
religions  have  celebrated  their  rites  in  North  Africa. 

Sometimes  the  story  is  written  in  grand  and  even 
noble  characters,  sometimes  in  rude  and  simple  ones. 
Many  tombs  are  revered  as  shrines ;  some  of  these  are 
ancient,  such  as  the  tomb  of  Sidi  Okba,  the  great 
Arab  saint ;  many  are  modern,  such  as  the  last  white 
Kouba,  glistening  in  the  sunshine  on  a  neighbouring 
hill,  and  built  over  the  grave  of  some  marabout.  Of 
the  identity  of  the  occupants  of  some  of  the  most 
splendid  tombs  there  is  no  actual  certainty  ;  the  very 
race  of  others  has  not  as  yet  been  definitely  deter- 
mined, for  the  tombs  are  prehistoric. 

Oldest  among  these  sepulchres  are  the  dolmens. 

In  the  Department  of  Constantine  these  are  very 
numerous.  M.  Feraud  speaks  of  the  dolmens  near  the 
springs  of  the  Bou  Merzoug,  35  kilometres  south  of 
Constantine  or  Cirta.  Of  these  the  largest  are  used  as 
shelters  by  the  shepherds,  who  call  them  El  R'oul, 
the  ghouls,  and  El  R'oulat,  the  ogres  or  vampires  ; 
here,  they  say,  once  lived  a  race  of  pagans  whose 
wickedness  drew  down  the  anger  of  God  upon  them. 
As  a  punishment  He  caused  a  hailstorm  of  great  stones 
to  fall.  And  the  country  being  flat  and  open,  the 
R'oul  had  no  roof  but  the  sky,  so  they  made  houses  of 


ROKNIA  AND   ITS   DOLMENS  309 

stone  for  themselves  as  a  protection  from  the  terrible 
downpour. 

There  are  dolmens  also  at  Dougga.  These,  though 
much  fewer  in  number  than  those  of  Roknia,  of  which 
I  shall  speak  presently,  are  larger  ;  the  cap  stone  of 
one  measures  13  feet  in  length  and  6  feet  across. 

We  climbed  the  steep  side  of  the  mountain  in  search 
of  them,  and  disappeared  for  so  long  that  our  French 
driver,  who  was  waiting  below,  became  anxious  and 
sent  a  boy  to  look  for  us.  He  told  us  afterwards  that 
it  was  not  safe  to  wander  about  upon  the  mountains 
unarmed.  However,  the  only  natives  we  had  met 
had  been  quite  friendly  and  harmless — a  man  who 
stood  and  stared  speechlessly  at  us,  as  we  were  resting 
for  a  few  minutes  after  our  climb,  a  small  boy,  and 
a  pretty  little  girl. 

The  latter,  who  was  about  six  years  old,  quite 
seriously  offered  me  her  hand,  over  some  of  the  most 
difficult  bits  of  the  descent.  Greatly  amused,  I  took 
it  to  please  her,  and  found  it  as  strong  and  firm  as 
that  of  a  woman,  while  her  bare  feet  over  the  slippery 
stones  were  sure  as  a  young  antelope's. 

But  whether  the  dangers  were  real  or  only  imagi- 
nary, we  felt  that  we  were  well  repaid  for  the  ad- 
venture. 

The  tombs  stand  upon  a  small  plateau  over  which 
tow^ers  darkly  a  rocky  height.  Below,  bathed  in  the 
sunlight,  and  surrounded  by  mountains,  lies  the 
beautiful  Capitol  of  Thugga,  the  arch  of  Bab  er 
Roumia,  and  lower  still  the  wonderful  Libyan-Punic 
tomb  of  Ataban.^  Upon  one  side  stretches  the  Roman 
circus  ;  upon  the  other,  deep  down  at  the  foot  of  the 
mountain  and  winding  round  it  hke  a  white  ribbon, 
the  road  leading  to  Kef,  and  on  to  Tebessa. 

*  Vide  p.  344. 


310  TWIXT   SAND   AND   SEA 

Upon  the  plateau,  and  all  around,  the  rocks  are 
split  and  scattered  on  the  ground,  as  by  some  great   ; 
upheaval ;    the  huge  stones  of  the  tombs  are  mingled   ( 
with  them,  often  in  an  almost  indistinguishable  mass. 
Some,  however,  of  the  dolmens  remain  standing  amidst 
a  wilderness  of  golden  gorse  and  dry  grass.     Inex- 
pressibly grand  and  solemn  is  this  cemetery  of  an 
ancient   people   whose   very   existence  had  probably 
been  forgotten  long  before  the  Romans  came  to  North   I 
Africa ;  though  the  Arabs  say  of  the  tombs,  as  they 
do  of  everything  which  they  cannot  understand,  that 
they  are  Roman,  or  else  that  they  were  erected  by 
pagans. 

Perhaps  of  all  the  sepulchres  in  North  Africa  the 
dolmens  awaken  the  greatest  interest  and  appeal 
most  strongly  to  the  imagination.  One  of  the  most 
wonderful  of  these  prehistoric  cities  of  the  dead  is  at 
Roknia. 

It  lies  high  up  on  the  slopes  of  the  mountains  which 
shelter  Hammam  Meskoutine  from  the  sea.  For  six 
miles  you  follow  the  modern  French  road  winding  up- 
wards from  the  Accursed  Baths.  Then  comes  a  short 
distance  of  heavy  walking,  for  the  latter  part  of  the 
journey  must  be  made  on  foot.  Turning  to  the  left, 
you  make  your  way  by  a  rough  footpath,  across  some 
fields.  . 

This  part  of  the  country  is  fertile  and  beautiful, 
and  the  land  is  under  cultivation.  An  Arab  is  plough- 
ing with  a  couple  of  oxen.  With  one  hand  he  holds 
the  plough,  in  the  other  he  carries  a  long  stick  with 
which  to  guide  the  animals.  The  plough  is  of  the  most 
simple  and  primitive  description  ;  just  a  straight  up- 
turned pole,  with  a  rude  iron  shoe  at  the  end,  and  a 
stay  of  about  a  foot  long  upon  either  side  of  it.  i 

Slowly  and  laboriously  man  and  oxen  struggle  over 


A  Tomb  at  Roknia 


I 


ROKNIA    AND    ITS    DOLMENS  311 

the  heavy  ground.  It  is  hard  work,  and  a  trial  of 
patience  in  the  teeth  of  a  cutting  wind.  The  pro- 
gress is  very  slow ;  watching  it,  one  thinks  surely  the 
summer  will  be  here  before  the  work  is  finished.  In 
this  country,  with  these  people,  time  can  have  no 
meaning,  be  of  no  importance. 

Time,  indeed,  counted  by  days,  or  months,  or  even 
by  years,  does  seem  as  nothing  when  one  tries  to 
realise  the  forty  centuries  that  have  passed  since 
the  dead  were  laid  to  rest  in  the  mighty  cemetery 
stretching  from  the  plateau  on  which  we  stand,  down 
the  steep  side  of  the  mountain,  and  on  to  the  valley 
below.  Enclosing  the  place  in  solemn  grandeur  are 
the  ranges  of  the  Djebel  Debar  and  the  Djebel  Gherar. 
Their  great  rounded  summits  rise  up  one  above 
another,  green  and  purple  and  blue  as  they  come 
nearer,  or  recede  farther  from  the  eye.  Some  of  their 
higher  peaks  are  still  covered  with  snow.  The  sky  is 
lowering  and  sunless  ;  dark  clouds  reach  down  to 
touch  the  mountains.  A  silence  intense,  and  almost 
dreadful,  broods  over  the  place  where  these  primitive 
people  lie,  wrapt  in  the  mystery  of  death. 

An  Arab  boy  in  a  brown  striped  gandoura,  made 
of  goat's  or  camel's  hair,  which  reaches  to  his  knees, 
leaving  his  legs  bare,  is  keeping  goats.  He  is  a 
handsome  lad,  with  olive  skin,  and  long  almond- 
shaped,  wide-open  eyes.  There  is  an  air  of  proud  de- 
tachment and  independence  in  the  poise  of  his  head. 
He  stares  at  us  with  a  look  that  is  a  mixture  of  resent- 
ment and  shy  friendhness.  The  European  is  still  a 
matter  of  curiosity  to  him.  His  home  is  in  the  moun- 
tains ;  he  knows  no  language  but  Arabic.  But  as  most 
of  the  settlers  in  the  country  have  learned  its  language, 
the  Frenchman  who  had  showed  us  the  way  was  able 
to   interpret.     Local   stories   are    always   interesting. 


312  'TWIXT    SAND    AND    SEA 

sometimes  even  throwing  valuable  light  upon  mys- 
teries.    We  questioned  the  boy. 

But  the  result  was  disappointing.  All  his  life  he 
had  walked  about  amongst  these  mountains.  Ever 
since  he  was  old  enough  he  had  been  tending  goats. 
The  tombs  are  such  familiar  objects  that  it  has  never 
occurred  to  him  to  speculate  or  even  wonder  about 
them.  They  are  nothing  to  marvel  at.  Perhaps,  he 
suggests,  there  was  an  ancient  town  here  ;  the  stones 
may  have  been  set  up  in  time  of  battle  as  a  shelter 
from  attack,  or  places  to  shoot  from  ;  and  this  is  all. 

During  that  long  period  of  four  thousand  years  oral 
tradition  seems  to  have  been  lost ;  no  one  was  left, 
perhaps,  to  hand  down  either  tradition  or  legend.  The 
descendants  of  these  prehistoric  people  have  been  swept 
away  from  this  part  of  the  country.  Authorities  differ 
even  as  to  their  identity.  They  are  said  to  have  been 
troglodyte  Libyans  or  Berbers,  and  ancestors  of  the 
Kabyles  and  Chaouiah.  But  the  real  history  of 
the  dead  at  Roknia  will  remain  perhaps  for  ever  a 
mystery.  The  graveyard  is  the  only  record  of  their 
existence.^ 

And  what  a  wonderful  graveyard  it  is.  The  tombs, 
about  twelve  hundred  in  number,  lie  close  together. 
Some  have  fallen,  and  are  almost  hidden  by  the 
thick  bushes  which  cover  the  ground.  Most  of  them 
have  been  disturbed  for  examination,  or  rifled  in 
search  of  treasure.  Many,  however,  are  still  standing 
uninjured,  four  great  stones  forming  a  chamber,  and 

^  The  difference  of  type  amongst  the  skulls  between  those  of  a  fair  and 
of  a  dark  people  is  said  to  be  a  proof  not  of  a  different  race,  but  of  the 
different  altitudes  at  which  tribes  of  the  same  Libyans  lived. 

Another  authority  says  that  the  skulls  found  in  the  tombs  belong  to  the 
long  (dolicho-pentagonal)  Arian  type,  some  to  the  negroes  or  a  mixed  type, 
and  the  majority  to  Libyans  or  Kabyles.  But  the  problem  is  at  present 
quite  unsolved. 


ROKNIA    AND    ITS    DOLMENS  313 

a  fifth  a  cover.  Originally  they  were  buried  beneath 
a  tumulus,  a  heaped-up  mass  of  earth  with  a  base  of 
stones.  But  time  has  gradually  changed  this.  Now 
all  that  remains  is  the  actual  dolmen  or  funeral 
chamber,  and  in  some  cases  the  circle  of  stones  which 
formed  the  outline  of  the  tumulus.  The  tombs,  with 
the  exception  of  one  which  is  orientated  from  south  to 
north,  are  placed  obliquely  from  south-west  to  north- 
east, so  that  the  angles  of  the  chamber  nearly  corre- 
spond with  the  cardinal  points.  Occasionally  we 
find  vaults  which  have  been  carefully  hollowed  out 
of  the  rock,  but  these  are  rare,  and  it  is  doubtful 
whether  they  are  of  the  same  age  as  the  dolmens.  The 
bracelets  and  other  ornaments  discovered  in  the  tombs, 
as  well  as  the  land  shells  found  there,  are  said  by  the 
various  French  authorities  who  have  examined  them  ^ 
to  prove  that  they  belong  to  the  period  of  the  bronze 
age  of  Denmark,  England,  Hungary,  and  Etruria.^ 
Here,  for  the  first  time  in  dolmens,  silver-gilt  orna- 
ments have  been  found.  This  points,  it  is  thought, 
to  the  conclusion  that  the  tribes  who  used  this 
burial  place,  although  themselves  a  pastoral  people, 
were  in  communication  with  some  more  civilised 
race.  Perhaps  they  had  commercial  and  political 
relations  with  Egypt  and  Nigeria.  The  skull  of  an 
Egyptian  woman  has  been  found  in  a  dolmen  of 
Roknia  which  Dr.  Prunar  Bey  says  could  belong  to 
no  other  period  than  the  seventeenth  or  eighteenth 
dynasty,  or  about  1500  years  B.C. 

All  that  has  been  gathered  together  concerning  the 
life  and  condition  of  the  people  buried  at  Roknia 
amounts  to  very  little  ;    but  most  of  it  is  interesting, 

1  General  Faidherbe,  M.  Rouyer,  M.  Bourguignat. 

-  I  believe  that  up  to  the  present  no  certain  trace  of  a  bronze  age  has 
been  found  in  Noith  Africa. 


314  'TWIXT   SAND   AND   SEA 

some  of  it  touching.  Even  in  those  primitive  days 
there  were  different  classes  of  rich  and  poor,  gover- 
nors and  governed,  powerful  and  humble.  This  has 
been  proved  by  the  nature  of  the  burials.  The 
larger  tombs,  in  which  the  most  powerful  amongst 
the  people  were  buried,  are  invariably  at  the  bottom 
of  the  hill,  and  were  found  by  General  Faidherbe  to 
contain  only  one,  or  at  the  most  two  bodies.  The 
jewellery  and  vases  discovered  in  these  graves  were 
finer  than  those  in  the  smaller  ones  ;  the  latter,  per- 
haps from  motives  of  economy,  held  three  or  four  or 
even  more  bodies.  The  Kabyles  or  Berbers^  are  said 
to  have  been  buried  half-way  up  the  side  of  the  hill, 
and  the  negroes  upon  the  summit.  The  dead  were 
always  placed  upon  their  backs,  with  the  arms  crossed 
and  the  legs  drawn  up.  When  two  bodies  are  found 
in  the  same  grave,  they  are  placed  opposite  to  each 
other. 

Ceramic  art  was  in  its  earliest  infancy  amongst 
these  people,  but  some  of  the  vases  discovered  in 
the  Roknia  dolmens  are  of  a  beautiful  shape,  and 
no  two  have  ever  been  found  alike.^  They  are  rudely 
fashioned  by  hand  ;  the  mark  of  the  potter's  fingers 
is  often  plainly  visible.  They  have  been  slightly 
baked  either  in  the  fire  or  in  the  sun.^  The  presence 
of    pottery  in    the    graves    shows    that   these  tribes 

^  Natives  of  North  Africa,  so  called  by  the  Arabs.  The  Romans  called 
them  Numidians,  Libyans,  and  Moors. 

^  Most  of  the  specimens  are  at  present,  I  believe,  in  the  Museum  at  St, 
Germain. 

^  Probably  in  much  the  same  way  as  the  native  pottery  made  by  the 
Bedouins  is  to  this  day.  Specimens  of  this  work  are  now  rather  difficult  to 
procure.  The  writers  possess  a  few,  some  little  vases  and  a  model  of  a 
camel  about  nine  inches  in  height.  The  latter  is  roughly  but  well  modelled, 
except  that  the  feet  of  the  animal  are  absurdly  large  in  proportion  to  the 
rest  of  the  body.  These  specimens,  made  of  yellow  clay,  and  painted 
with  a  rude  design  in  black  and  red,  are  glazed.  The  little  earthen  censers 
used  by  the  natives  are  of  unglazed  pottery. 


ROKNIA   AND    ITS    DOLMENS  315 

had  some  faith  in  a  future  life.  They  had  con- 
tained food  which  was  provided  for  the  sustenance  of 
the  departed  in  another  world.  The  fact  that  the 
orientation  of  the  tombs  is  identical  with  that  adopted 
by  the  Arians  is  held  as  proof  that  these  people  were 
in  touch  with  an  Arian  religion. 

Human  nature  is  the  same  in  essentials,  whether 
its  development  is  that  of  the  twentieth  century  or 
only  that  of  the  bronze  or  iron  age.  It  loves,  and 
suffers,  and  dies.  Its  love  and  its  suffering  are  only 
questions  of  degree.  In  every  age  the  stage  of  de- 
velopment of  a  people  or  an  individual  can  be  gauged 
by  the  attitude  adopted  towards  women ;  in  some 
measure  we  are  able  to  apply  this  test  to  the  pre- 
historic people  of  Roknia. 

Their  women  were  in  a  state  of  complete  sub- 
jection, being  mere  beasts  of  burden.  The  hope — a 
childish  one,  doubtless,  but  still  a  hope — of  a  future  life 
which  was  held  by  the  men  was  denied  to  the  women. 
In  no  case,  says  General  Faidherbe,  who  carefully 
examined  the  graves,  were  any  vases  found  in  the  tomb 
of  a  woman.  When  a  man  and  woman  were  buried 
together,  the  vase  was  invariably  placed  near  the  head 
of  the  man. 

Yet  these  women,  doubtless,  were  capable  of  great 
love  and  self-sacrifice.  In  one  case  General  Faidherbe 
found  what  he  considered  evidence  of  a  tragedy  of 
human  sorrow  and  sacrifice.  In  most  of  the  graves 
in  which  women  were  buried  he  found  ornaments, 
rings  and  bracelets  of  bronze  and  occasionally  silver- 
gilt,  bent  and  broken.  But  the  ornaments  were  ex- 
tremely simple,  and  the  women  thus  honoured  were 
generally  of  full  or  advanced  age.  In  one  of  the 
largest  tombs,  however,  he  discovered  the  bodies  of 
two  young  girls,  and  here  the  ornaments,  which  were 


3i6  'TWIXT    SAND   AND    SEA 

of  silver-gilt,  were  larger  and  finer  than  those  found 
in  any  other  tomb.  They  also  had  been  destroyed. 
This  work  of  destruction  General  Faidherbe  thinks 
had  probably  been  done  by  the  mother,  who,  rather 
than  run  the  risk  of  her  jewellery  going  to  any  one  else, 
had,  at  the  death  of  her  children,  herself  destroyed  it. 
Tliis,  he  says,  was  no  small  thing  to  do — no  slight  evi- 
dence of  human  love  and  grief.  For  the  jewellery, 
worthless  as  it  seems  to  us,  must  have  meant  a  great 
deal  to  the  owners  of  it.  These  bracelets  probably 
were  the  only  ones  of  their  kind  in  the  tribe.  They 
must  have  been  obtained  with  great  difficulty;  and 
could  hardly  be  replaced. 

These  are  only  slight  glimpses  into  the  lives  of  the 
prehistoric  people  buried  at  Roknia.  Some  of  the 
theories  built  upon  them  may  seem  to  rest  upon  an 
insufficient  foundation,  and  the  ideas  to  be  too  fanciful. 
What  is  really  certain  amounts  to  very  little.  The 
rest,  in  imagination,  we  may  fill  up  for  ourselves,  as 
we  wander  about  in  the  solitude  and  silence  of  this 
w^onderful  graveyard. 

Even  the  appearance  and  formation  of  the  surface 
of  the  earth  has  suffered  change  since  these  dead 
were  laid  to  rest.  Now  the  ground  is  rough  and 
dry  and  stony.  Once  it  was  cultivated  and  fertile. 
The  plateau  was  pasture  land  ;  forests  covered  the 
flank  of  the  mountains.  The  climate,  too,  has  altered. 
Instead  of  there  being,  as  at  present,  only  about  fifty 
days  of  rain,  then  there  were  one  hundred  and  fifty, 
while  the  temperature  never  sank  below  50°.  Thus 
the  extreme  fertility  of  this  part  of  the  country  has 
been  accounted  for. 

Here  was  once  a  colossal  crater  caused  by  furious 
internal  heat ;  boiling  springs  came  bursting  up  to  the 
surface  ;  cones  were  deposited  like  those  still  existing  at 


ROKNIA    AND    ITS    DOLMENS  317 

Hamman  Meskoutine,  and  described  in  the  following 
chapter.  The  springs  at  Roknia  must  have  been  one 
of  the  most  wonderful  sights  of  the  world.  For  the 
space  of  about  three  miles  the  earth  would  have  been 
covered  with  clouds  of  dense  steam  ;  jets  of  boiling 
water  spurted  up  into  the  air.  When  those  melan- 
choly little  funeral  processions  wound  their  way  up  the 
side  of  the  mountain,  the  mourners  were  going  to  place 
their  dead  under  the  protection  of  some  infernal  god, 
whose  power  and  presence,  as  they  supposed,  were  mani- 

:  fested  in  this  terrible  manner.  As  the  sound  of  their 
wailing  floated  down  the  side  of  the  awful  mountain, 
the  hearts  of  the  sorrowing  people  must  have  been 

1  filled  with  the  mystery  and  the  terror  of  unexplained 
forces. 

The  cooling  of  the  internal  heat  at  Roknia  had 
already  begun  when  the  interments  took  place ;  the 
tribes  chose  for  the  graves  those  parts  of  the  ground 
where  the  heat  was  less  tremendous,  and,  in  conse- 
quence, where  it  was  possible  to  bury.  But  in  many 
cases.  General  Faidherbe  and  others  who  have  ex- 
amined the  tombs  found  that  the  corpses  were 
calcined  by  the  action  of  the  subterranean  fire.  The 
earth  in  the  graves  also  has  the  appearance  of  being 
burnt. 

The  internal  fires  must  have  cooled,  and  the  boiling 

•springs  have  ceased  to  rise,  long  before  the  coming 
of  any  historic  people  to  Roknia ;  there   is  not  the 

;  slightest  sign  that  any  baths  or  buildings  were  erected 

;  there  by  the  Romans.     The  composition  of  the  stones 

I  forming  the  dolmens   is   identical   with  that   of   the 

!  cones  at  Hammam  Meskoutine. 

It  is  all  such  a  very  old  story,  reaching  far  back 
into  the  childhood  of  the  world ;  one  is  filled  with  awe 

jand  wonder  as  one  walks  about  amongst  the  tombs 


3i8  'TWIXT    SAND    AND    SEA 

upon  the  mountain-side  at  Roknia.  There  is  an  in- 
finite pathos  in  the  rough,  unhewn  stones  ;  something 
of  weirdness  too,  almost,  it  would  seem,  of  cruelty. 
The  dark  clouds  descending  upon  the  mountains,  the 
wind  sweeping  over  them,  the  pitiless  desolation  of  the 
whole  scene,  are  in  keeping.  So  also  is  the  bitter  cry 
of  a  goat,  which  fills  the  air  as  we  return  once  more  to 
the  road.  Its  legs  are  tied  ;  an  Arab  is  carrying  it  in 
front  of  the  saddle  upon  his  mule.  It  is  going  to  die, 
a  sacrifice  at  the  great  Moslem  feast  that  is  close  at 
hand.  Instinct  fills  it,  perhaps,  with  apprehension. 
Its  head,  with  piteous  eyes,  is  continually  turned  back 
in  the  direction  of  the  flock  from  which  it  has  been 
taken.  The  terrified  cry  haunts  you,  and  seems  to  be 
going  on  still,  long  after  the  actual  sound  in  your  ears 
has  ceased. 

Yet  this  surely  is  only  one  side  of  the  picture. 
The  burial-place  of  these  primitive  people  may  be 
wrapped  in  gloom  and  mystery  and  desolation  ;  but 
there  must  have  been  something  in  their  lives  of  hap- 
piness and  simple  content.  At  least  so  one  thinks, 
upon  another  day  when  the  sun  is  shining,  causing 
wonderful  lights  and  shadows  to  pass  over  the  moun- 
tains, and  the  silence  is  a  smiling  and  joyous  one. 
The  sky  overhead  is  deep  blue  ;  as  you  stand  amongst 
the  tombs,  the  river,  the  Oued  bou  Hamden,  which 
is  blue  also,  can  be  seen  like  a  blue  thread,  winding 
through  the  valley  below.  Above  and  around  upon 
every  side  rise  the  mountains,  range  upon  range,  in 
perfect  panorama,  green,  and  covered  with  shrubs  ;  or 
purple  and  blue  as  they  become  more  distant. 

In  the  valley,  close  to  the  banks  of  the  river, 
is  a  httle  Arab  village,  each  hut  surrounded  by  its 
hedge  of  prickly  pear.  A  dog  barks  ;  a  woman  comes 
out  and  spreads  a  red  garment  upon  the  ground ; 


ROKNIA   AND    ITS    DOLMENS  319 

there  is  a  flutter  of  brightly  clad  children  amongst 
the  bushes  near  the  enclosure.  Over  the  mountain 
upon  the  other  side  of  the  valley  some  goats  are  wend- 
ing their  way,  and  a  little  grey  cow  or  two,  with  thick 
neck,  and  pretty  head  like  those  of  the  Channel  Islands. 
Presently  a  great  eagle  appears  upon  the  sky-Hne,  and 
sails  slowly  over  the  rocky  crags  and  across  the  valley, 
which  for  the  moment  it  seems  to  dominate.    Nearer 

'  and  nearer  he  comes,  searching  the  country  below  with 
his  far-seeing  eyes,  until  he  is  almost  over  our  heads. 
A  great  bird — from  tip  to  tip  of  his  beautiful  out- 
stretched pinions,  must  be  a  stretch  of  eight  feet  or 

,  more  ;  his  flight  feathers  are  divided  and  serrated  so 

I  that  the  blue  of  the  sky  is  visible  between  them.  On 
he  goes ;  resting  now  and  then  on  motionless  wings  ; 
king  of  the  scene — Jove's  own  bird  scornfully  regard- 

I  ing,  so  it  seems,  mere  man,  as  an  intruder  into  this  his 
kingdom,  then,  saiHng  on  again,  down  into  the  valley 
over  the  distant  crags  and  the  distant  mountain,  until 
he  is  lost  to  sight. 

I        The  Arab  boy  with  his  goats  has  wandered  away, 

I  the  little  grey  cows  have  passed  by  and  disappeared. 

I  We,  too,  turn  regretfully  to  leave.  Solitude  broods 
once  more  over  the  scene,  where  the  prehistoric  tombs 

,  He  wrapped  in  the  quiet  solemnity  of  death. 


CHAPTER    II 

THE   BATHS   OF  THE   ACCURSED 

A  GREEN  valley,  surrounded  by  mountains  ;  to  the 
north  the  Djebal  Debar,  to  the  north-east  and  south- 
east Addi  and  Mahouna,  and  to  the  west  the  rugged 
peaks  of  the  Taga,  Hammam  Meskoutine  lies  like  a 
gem  in  a  beautiful  setting.  No  greater  contrast  could 
be  imagined  than  that  between  the  physical  features 
of  this  region  and  those  of  the  Ziban  and  the  Sahara, 
south  of  the  Aures  Mountains.  In  the  one,  olive  trees 
cover  the  hills  and  abound  in  the  valley  ;  in  the  other 
scattered  and  isolated  oases  of  palm  trees  are  set  in  the 
midst  of  a  sandy  plain.  In  the  one  the  earth  is  ex- 
ceedingly fruitful,  and  brings  forth  in  plenty,  oil,  and 
wine,  and  corn  ;  in  the  other  the  earth  is  barren, 
except  in  the  oases  ;  while  there  is  a  continual  struggle 
to  eke  out  a  bare  existence.  Hammam  Meskoutine 
is  blessed  with  an  abundance  of  moisture,  hence  its 
wonderful  fertility.  The  valley  is  full  of  streams. 
There  is  always  the  pleasant,  soothing  sound  of  running 
water  ;  its  music  is  never  silent.  Water  has  been  in 
past  ages,  and  still  is,  the  spirit  and  creative  power  of 
Hammam  Meskoutine. 

When  the  internal  fires  which  had  made  Roknia  a 
vast  crater  were  extinguished,  and  the  water  ceased 
to  rise  to  the  surface,  other  powerful  sources  burst 
forth,  making  their  appearance  at  Hammam  Mes- 
koutine, and  the  same  sequence  of  events  was  re- 
peated.   At  first  the   subterranean  water  rose  high 


THE    BATHS    OF   THE   ACCURSED      321 

into  the  air  with  tremendous  force,  leaving  as  it  fell  to 
the  ground  a  circular  deposit  of  carbonate  of  lime. 
Upon  the  first  circle  another  was  formed ;  then 
another,  and  another,  until  presently  a  cone  grew  up. 
Thus  gradually  the  water  choked  up  its  own  outlet. 
There  are  hundreds  of  these  cones  at  Meskoutine, 
strange  dead  grey  objects  ;  for  in  process  of  time  the 
creamy  white  mass  of  lime  becomes  discoloured  and 
assumes  a  burnt-out  appearance.  Many  of  the  cones 
are  quite  small,  and  lie  in  groups  close  together. 
Others  are  about  forty  feet  in  height.  Sometimes  the 
water  found  a  crack  in  the  rock  and  issued  in  long 
streams  in  all  directions.  The  deposit  gradually 
closed  up  the  outlet,  leaving  a  narrow  furrow  or 
channel  stretching  along  the  whole  length  of  the 
mound  which  it  had  built  up,  and  the  formation  took 
the  form  of  a  hog's  back. 

The  spectacle  must  have  been  marvellous.  To 
the  primitive  mind  volcanic  phenomena  were  always 
looked  upon  as  a  manifestation  of  supernatural  life. 
So  the  terrified  natives  called  the  boiling  waters  of 
Meskoutine  "  The  Baths  of  the  Accursed,"  and  attri- 
buted their  existence  to  King  Suleyman,  who  was  ac- 
credited by  the  ancients  with  magical  powers.  This 
wonderful  King,  it  is  said,  made  himself  baths  all  over 
the  world.  And  the  mysterious  baths  at  Meskoutine 
were  put  under  the  charge  of  djinn  who  were  blind  and 
deaf  and  dumb,  in  order  that  they  might  remain 
in  ignorance  of  the  magical  work  going  on ;  that 
they  might  see  nothing,  hear  nothing,  and  repeat 
nothing.  In  course  of  time  the  great  magician.  King 
i Suleyman,  died,  and  matters  then  became  complicated, 
because  it  was  impossible  to  make  these  afflicted  djinn 
understand  what  had  happened.  So  they  continued 
•to  carry  out  the  original  orders,  and  have  gone  on 

X 


322  'TWIXT    SAND    AND    SEA 

heating  the  furnaces,  and  keeping  the  water  boiling 
ever  since. 

One  of  the  largest  and  tallest  groups  of  cones 
has  a  special  legend  attached  to  it.  A  very  rich  and 
powerful  Arab,  it  is  said,  called  Ali,  belonging  to  the 
tribe  of  Beni  Kalifa,  originating  from  Mecca,  had  a 
beautiful  sister  called  Ourida.  So  beautiful  was  she 
that  he  decided  to  marry  her  himself,  rather  than  let 
any  one  else  do  so,  in  spite  of  the  prohibition  of  such 
unions  by  the  Mohammedan  law.  The  wedding  fes- 
tivities were  of  the  greatest  magnificence ;  camels  came 
laden  with  presents ;  and  the  guests  were  very  nume- 
rous. All  went  well  until  the  moment  when  the  priest 
Abdallah  was  in  the  act  of  uniting  the  couple.  Then 
suddenly  a  terrible  cataclysm  of  nature  took  place. 
The  sun  ceased  to  shine,  and  a  flash  of  lightning  cleft 
the  sky.  Fire  burst  from  the  depths  of  the  earth,  the 
rivers  rose  out  of  their  beds,  and  profound  darkness 
reigned. 

Next  morning  when  the  sun  rose  the  tribe  of  Beni 
Kalifa  was  no  more.  But  Ali,  his  sister  Ourida,  the 
priest,  and  all  the  guests  remained  standing — petrified 
pillars,  like  Lot's  wife,  a  warning  and  example  to  all 
ages.i 

Of  the  Romans  who  spread  themselves  all  over  North 
Africa,  there  are,  as  one  would  expect,  traces  at  Meskou- 
tine.  They  had  already  an  important  town  close  by  at 
Tibilis,  now  called  Announa,  and  a  prosperous  settle- 
ment at  Guelma,  the  ancient  Calama,  when  they  dis- 
covered the  Accursed  Baths.  Bathing  being  such 
an  essential  and  important  part  of  their  daily  life, 
they  quickly  made  use  of  the  discovery,  and  built  a 
large  bathing  establishment  there,  which  they  called 

'  The  same  legend,  with  slight  variations,  is  told  of  a  dolmen  in  Eastern 
Kabylia  called  "  El'  Aroussa,"  or  "  The  Fianct^e,"  and  of  others. 


I 


^jtarr 


Cones — The  Arab  Wedding 


The  Cascade,   Hammam  Meskoutine 


THE    BATHS    OF   THE    ACCURSED      323 

Aquae  Tibilitinse.  At  this  period  the  heat  had  some- 
what diminished.  The  water  no  longer  had  power 
to  throw  up  cones,  but  was  depositing  its  sediment 
in  the  form  of  steep-sided  mounds.  Now  the  springs 
upon  the  site  of  the  Roman  baths  have  also  ceased 
to  flow,  and  the  water  which  supplied  them  only 
escapes  in  feeble  trickles ;  the  great  thermae  them- 
selves have  disappeared,  and  nothing  remains  to 
show  where  they  once  stood  but  some  of  the  outside 
walls  and  a  few  isolated  stones  lying  neglected  upon 
the  grassy  slopes.  The  Arabs,  who  never  cut  stones 
for  themselves,  but  are  always  willing  to  use  them 
when  they  find  them  ready  to  hand,  for  the  mere 
trouble  of  removal,  have  destroyed  nearly  all  traces 
of  the  Roman  occupation  at  Meskoutine.  A  few 
vaults,  the  basements  of  some  villas,  great  blocks  of 
stone  here  and  there,  some  tombstones  and  votive 
tablets  which  have  been  dug  up  and  erected  near 
the  hotel  at  Meskoutine — this  is  all  that  remains  of 
Aquae  Tibilitinae. 

And   the  changes   at   Meskoutine   have   gone   on 

taking  place  ever  since.    The  destruction  of  the  Roman 

buildings,  and  the  failure   of  the  springs  supplying 

their  baths,  are  not  the  only  ones.     Nature  is  always 

moving  and  suffering  alteration,  and  the  heat  of  the 

,  subterranean  fires  is  gradually  becoming  less.    The 

waters  have  lost  still  more  of  their  primitive  force  ; 

'  the  fountains  are  now  very  few.     In  course  of  time 

!  what  has  happened  at  Roknia  will  have  happened  also 

1  at  Meskoutine.     In  spite  of  all  the  care  of  the  blind, 

I  deaf,  and  dumb  djinn,  the  fires  will  be  extinguished, 

i  and  the  position  of  the  great  crater  will  be  traceable 

i  only  by  the  deposits  left  by  the  water. 

I        It  is  difficult  to  believe  this  when  standing  below 

the  Great  Cascade,  watching  the  clouds  of  steam  rise, 


324  'TWIXT   SAND   AND    SEA 

and  the  boiling  water  gush  out,  and  fall  over  the  preci- 
pice at  the  rate  of  25,000  gallons  an  hour.  The  sight  is  a 
strange,  almost  an  unearthly  one.  The  rock  over  which 
the  water  falls  into  the  bed  of  the  Oued  Chedakra  is 
rough  and  uneven,  and  looks  hke  a  petrified  rapid,  as 
indeed  it  is.  The  calcareous  deposits  of  successive  ages 
have  assumed  all  kinds  of  colours,  varying  from  the 
dark  smoke-grey  of  the  earliest,  to  the  pure  creamy 
white  of  the  sediment  of  to-day.  Between  these  there 
is  pearl  grey  and  every  shade  of  yellow,  from  the 
palest  saffron  to  a  rich  orange,  in  some  places  becoming 
almost  red.  All  these  beautiful  colours  are  reflected 
in  the  deep  water  of  a  pool  surrounded  by  grey- 
green  olives,  with  great  twisted  trunks.  Down 
below,  in  a  little  wooded  glen  upon  the  other  side  of 
the  road  winding  up  towards  the  station,  the  natives 
wash  their  clothes,  and  sometimes  cook  their  vege- 
tables, in  the  boiling  water  of  the  river.  In  the  healing 
properties  of  the  water  the  people  have  unbounded 
faith.  Both  these  and  the  other  hot  springs  near 
Biskra  are  endowed  by  the  natives  with  powers  that 
are  almost  miraculous;  there  is  hardly  any  ailment 
which  they  are  considered  incapable  of  curing. 
Wondrous  tales  of  recoveries  are  related  by  those 
who  bathe  in  the  waters  of  Hammam  es  Salahin,  or 
the  Baths  of  the  Saints,  near  Biskra.  If  advertise- 
ments were  needed  to  recommend  them,  no  better 
one  could  be  devised  than  the  conversation  of  the 
people  in  the  little  tram-car  as  it  goes  backwards  and 
forwards  between  these  baths  and  Biskra. 

I  have  said  that  the  sequence  of  events  connected 
with  the  craters  at  Roknia  and  at  Meskoutine  were  the 
same.  But  there  was  one  great  difference  between  them. 
At  the  former  place  the  eruption  of  boiling  water  had 
already  actually  ceased  in  prehistoric  times,  and  the 


THE    BATHS    OF   THE    ACCURSED      325 

only  remaining  records  of  their  existence  are  the  de- 
posits now  forming  the  soil.  At  Meskoutine,  though 
the  formation  of  the  cones  took  place  in  a  prehistoric 
period,  this  began  so  much  later  that  the  crater  at  the 
present  time  is  still  active.  When  one  considers  the 
fact,  that,  though  belonging  to  such  primitive  ages,  the 
cones  at  Meskoutine  had  not  begun  to  rise  until  the 
crater  at  Roknia  had  finally  cooled,  an  idea  is  obtained, 
difficult  indeed  to  grasp,  of  the  vast  ages  that  have 
elapsed  since  first  the  fountains  at  Roknia  began  to 
throw  up  cones. 

It  is  possible,  too,  that  at  Roknia,  where  all  was 
finished  during  the  world's  childhood,  the  curative 
properties  of  the  water  were  unknown  and  undreamed 
of,  and  that  the  only  effect  upon  the  primitive  mind 
of  those  great  fountains  of  water  and  volumes  of 
steam  was  to  inspire  the  dread,  to  which  I  have 
alluded,  of  a  mysterious  demoniacal  power  that 
was  working  deep  down  in  the  bowels  of  the  earth. 
At  Meskoutine  this  has  not  been  so.  Civilisation  has 
twice  been  brought  there  by  a  conquering  people, 
who  have  made  practical  use  of  the  waters :  first  the 
Romans  ;  now,  in  modern  times,  the  French. 

In  other  ways  than  that  of  utilising  the  boiling 
water  of  the  Accursed  Baths,  the  French  are  doing 
much  the  same  in  North  Africa  as  was  in  earlier 
times  accomplished  by  the  Romans.  They  are  bring- 
ing back  to  the  land  the  cultivation  which  was 
destroyed  by  the  Arabs,  whose  conquest  was  purely 
retrograde  and  destructive.  They  have  established 
peace  and  safety,  where  before  robbery,  rapine,  and 
murder  held  sway.  They  have  made  roads  and  rail- 
ways, and  have  opened  up  possibilities  of  trade  and 
employment  to  the  natives.  They  have  generally 
improved  the  condition  of  the  country.     Nevertheless 


326  'TWIXT   SAND   AND    SEA 

liberty  and  independence  are  sometimes  far  sweeter 
than  subservience  and  improvement.  The  native 
doubtless  prefers  to  be  able  to  fix  his  abode  wherever 
he  likes,  and  to  do  whatever  happens  to  suit  him  with 
the  land,  to  having  it  put  under  cultivation  by  the 
commune.  And  as  in  India  and  Egypt  there  still 
is  much  secret  restlessness,  so  it  is  in  North  Africa. 
The  terrible  slaughter  of  1845,  when  from  800  to  1000 
Arabs  were  burnt  to  death  in  the  caves  of  Ouled 
Riah,  near  Mostaganem,  has  since  been  fully  avenged 
by  insurrections  and  massacres.  In  1871  the  tribes 
were  ripe  for  revolt.  It  was  then  that  the  murder  of 
Europeans  took  place  at  Palestro,  near  Algiers.  The 
natives  also  rose  in  the  Medjerda  Mountains.  The 
holes  made  for  the  muskets  in  the  walls  of  the  ceme- 
tery at  Souk  Ahras  by  the  Europeans  who  were 
obliged  to  entrench  themselves  there,  may  still  be 
seen.  Now  the  French  have  built  forts  and  con- 
siderably strengthened  their  military  force.  In  some 
districts  it  is  thought  necessary  to  make  regulations 
and  restrictions  preventing  the  natives  of  the  sur- 
rounding country  from  assembling  without  leave  in 
the  great  mosques.  Very  stringent  rules  are  also 
enforced  upon  natives  moving  from  place  to  place  by 
rail.  They  are  obliged  to  have  authorisation,  and  to 
state  their  business  and  reasons  for  travelling.  The 
French  have  them  remarkably  well  in  hand,  and  are 
doing  their  best  to  keep  them  so. 

However,  notwithstanding  all  precautions,  a  ten- 
tative insurrection  was  made  at  Marguerite  in  Algeria 
as  lately  as  1901  by  a  neighbouring  mountain  tribe. 
In  this  massacre,  according  to  Dr.  Bertholon,  a 
strange  glimpse  was  given  of  a  pagan  custom  still 
in  vogue  amongst  the  Mohammedan  Libyans.  The 
ancients  were  wont  to  sacrifice  some  of  their  prisoners 


THE    BATHS    OF   THE    ACCURSED      327 

to  Hammon.  During  the  Marguerite  insurrection, 
turning  their  heads  to  the  east,  where  the  sun,  or 
Hammon,  rises,  the  natives  killed  their  prisoners  "  in 
the  name  of  God."  ^ 

One  cannot  wonder  that  a  people  in  this  state 
of  culture  should  sometimes  be  inclined  to  resent 
improvements  accompanying  European  civilisation, 
especially  when  they  naturally  involve  the  loss  of  their 
liberty.  But  the  fact  remains  that  improvements 
have  been  and  are  still  being  made.  Their  effect 
upon  the  cultivation  of  the  land  and  the  rendering 
it  fertile  can  nowhere  be  seen  better  than  at  Hammam 
Meskoutine.  Close  to  the  Great  Cascade  and  the  scat- 
tered groups  of  queer,  exhausted,  grey  cones,  and  not 
far  from  the  ruins  of  the  Roman  thermae  and  the 
villas  of  Aquae  Tibilitinse,  a  comfortable  bungalow 
hotel  has  been  built,  and  the  water  is  utilised  for 
modern  baths.  There  is  no  Arab  village  near,  only 
here  and  there  groups  of  tents  or  a  settlement  of 
perhaps  a  dozen  huts.  Dotted  about  are  a  few  home- 
steads, and  the  country  is  farmed  and  tilled  by  French 
people.  The  valley  is  rich  with  corn  ;  and  the  wild 
olives  which  cover  the  sides  of  the  hills  are  being 
grafted  and  rendered  fruitful. 

Numbers  of  the  natives  come  down  from  the 
mountains  for  the  olive  harvest.  In  the  spring  sun- 
shine of  a  February  day  the  olives  are  being  picked. 
It  is  a  busy  scene  and  a  picturesque  one.  The  great 
encircling  ranges  of  misty  blue  mountains,  the  light 
flickering  through  the  shadowy  leaves  of  the  olives 
and  falling  upon  the  figures  grouped  under  the  fantas- 
tically twisted  branches  of  the  old  trees.  Men  there 
are,  in  striped  brown  gandouras ;  women  clad  in 
bright-coloured    garments,   wearing   huge   red   head- 

^  Cf.  p.  336. 


328  TWIXT    SAND   AND    SEA 

dresses  almost  a  yard  wide.  Great  silver  ear-rings 
as  large  as  saucers  are  kept  in  place  by  chains 
and  brooches  fastened  across  the  front  of  the  head- 
dress ;  the  metal  gleams  as  it  catches  the  sun. 
Funny  little  half-naked  babies  and  queer,  large-eyed 
boys  and  girls  play  about,  or  help  with  the  work. 
Whole  families  are  gathered  about  under  the  trees. 
All  who  are  able  to  do  anything  are  busy ;  some 
standing  upon  ladders  stripping  the  fruit  from  the 
branches  ;  others  gathering  it  up  as  it  falls  in  pale 
green  or  purple  heaps  upon  the  brown  sheets  spread 
over  the  ground,  separating  it  from  the  leaves,  and 
finally  putting  it  into  sacks.  A  tall  Arab,  garbed  in 
white,  stands  like  a  presiding  fate  watching ;  not 
to  urge  the  workers  to  greater  industry,  for  the 
work  is  paid  by  the  piece,  and  the  rapidity  of  their 
labours  only  affects  the  people  themselves,  but  to  see 
that  no  injury  is  done  to  the  trees. 

And  all  the  time,  from  somewhere  close  by,  comes 
the  sound  of  a  pipe  ;  the  sound  which  is  the  essence 
and  embodiment  of  the  spirit  of  North  Africa,  which 
has  a  part  in  every  fete  and  every  ceremony,  be  it 
sad  or  joyful,  religious  or  secular.  For  the  Arab 
plays  his  pipe  upon  every  occasion.  He  will  do  a 
little  work  and  then  sit  down  to  play.  He  follows 
the  plough  playing  his  pipe,  or  beguiles  the  long  hours 
while  he  minds  his  flocks  with  its  music. 

Then  as  the  sacks  are  filled  with  the  fruit,  they 
are  laid  upon  the  backs  of  mules  and  donkeys.  The 
animals  are  waiting  patiently  under  the  shadow  of  the 
trees.  And  the  little  procession  makes  its  way  to  the 
oil  factory. 

The  oil-press  at  Meskoutine  is  formed  upon  the 
same  principle  as  the  simple  ones  of  the  native,  and 
though  it  may  have  lost  something  in  picturesqueness. 


THE    BATHS    OF   THE   ACCURSED       329 

it  has  certainly  gained  in  speed  and  power.  Instead 
of  miserably  thin  and  half-starved  animals  to  turn 
the  heavy  mill,  electric  machinery  is  employed.  And 
the  same  thing  applies  to  the  press.  In  the  native 
machine  the  huge  screw  is  made  of  wood ;  in  the 
elaborate  modern  European  one  it  is  of  steel. 

But  the  process  is  practically  the  same.  As  the 
olives  are  brought  in  fresh  from  the  groves  they  are 
placed  between  the  two  great  stones  of  the  mill  and 
crushed.  The  pulp  is  then  put  into  fiat  saucer-shaped 
cases  made  of  fibre.  These  are  piled  one  above 
another  in  the  press,  the  screw  descends,  and  the  oil 
streams  out.  This  is  the  best  quality  of  oil.  The 
pulp  is  then  mixed  with  water,  and  pressed  again. 
This  yields  the  second  quality.  In  each  case  the  oil  is 
washed  and  purified  with  water.  And  nowhere  is 
there  better  oil  made  than  at  Hammam  Meskoutine, 
or  more  absolutely  pure  and  tasteless. 

Hammam   Meskoutine   being   a   health   resort,   it 

strikes  one  as  somewhat  ironical  that  the  place  should 

'  be  ornamented  with  tombstones  !     Many  stones  and 

votive  tablets  have  been  dug  up  at  Aquae  Tibilitinse 

and  in  the  neighbourhood,  and  set  up  amongst  the 

orange  and  lemon  trees  in  the  large  courtyard  of  the 

hotel,  under  the  shade  of  a  wonderful  terebinth  tree 

that  spreads  out  its  branches  over  a  radius  of  about 

I  fifty  feet  in   all  directions.     A  Roman  memorial  of 

i  somewhat  touching  interest  has  been  placed  here.     It 

I  is  an  oblong  stone  of  about  five  feet  in  height.     In 

:  front  there  is  a  full-length  figure  of  a  man  placing 

.offerings  upon   an   altar.     Upon  the   two   sides   the 

1  Lares,  in  the  usual  form  of  two  snakes,  are  reaching 

round  to  eat  off  the  altar,  while  the  inscription  to  the 

genius  of  the  house  records  that  it  is  the  offering  of  a 

freed  man,  Antistius  Agathopus,  for  the  prosperity 


330  'TWIXT   SAND   AND   SEA 

of  his  master,  an  officer  of  the  Third  Legion,  and  his 
family.  Many  others  amongst  the  stones  are  human 
documents.  How  much  is  imphed  in  the  terse  in- 
scription, "  To  his  incomparable  wife,"  placed  by  a 
Roman  husband  upon  one  of  them.  His  name 
appears,  but  hers  is  lost  in  oblivion.  She  is  simply 
"  his  incomparable  wife." 

Another  peculiarly  interesting  and  curious  little 
stone  stands  amongst  the  golden  fruit-trees  at  Mes- 
koutine.  It  corresponds,  with  certain  differences, 
to  one  now  in  the  museum  at  Algiers,  which  was 
discovered  in  1858  in  an  orchard  at  Abizar  in 
Kabylia,  and  is  said  to  be  Libyan.  Both  these 
stones  are  bas-reliefs.  The  measurements  of  the 
former  are  as  follows  : — Height,  5  feet  to  3  feet  8 
inches;  width,  3  feet  7  inches;  thickness,  4  inches. 
It  bears  an  inscription  which  has  been  translated  by 
M.  Hanoteau — 

"  To  loukar  (or  lakous). 
Amouren  (or  Annoures)  renders  homage  to  his  master." 

Upon  this  stone  is  rudely  carved  a  man  with  a  pointed 
beard,  sitting  upon  a  horse.  In  his  left  hand  he  has 
a  round  shield  and  three  arrows.  His  right  hand  is 
raised  and  he  holds  an  uncertain  object  between  his 
thumb  and  first  finger.  Another  very  small  man  stands 
upon  the  horse,  behind  the  rider.  Round  the  horse's 
neck  hangs  an  amulet  resembling  those  that  are  hung 
round  the  camels  and  other  beasts  of  burden  of  the 
natives  at  the  present  day.  In  front  and  to  the  right 
of  the  horse  two  little  animals,  which  might  be  dogs 
or  cats,  are  very  rudely  carved,  the  latter  close  to 
the  end  of  the  spears  is  only  slightly  indicated  in  the 
illustration. 

Accepting  the  translation  of  the  inscription  given 


J 


I 


I 


•I  llll 

■ 


THE   BATHS    OF   THE   ACCURSED      331 

by  M.  Hanoteau/  Dr.  Bertholon  considers  this  carving 
to  be  the  representation  of  a  cavaHer  god,  Bacchus 
or  Dionysus  having  been  in  the  East  represented  as  a 
cavalier  god,  and  the  name  of  Bacchus  in  the  Eleu- 
sinian  mysteries  having  been  lakous.  He  mentions 
also  that  in  the  cult  of  this  god  in  the  region  of  the 
^gean  Sea  were  included  emblems  of  which  the  amulet 
round  the  horse's  neck  is  one,  also  that  the  cult  of  a 
cavalier  god  was  a  popular  one  in  Thrace,  and  suggests 
an  analogy  between  the  Abizar  stele  and  a  bas-relief 
somewhat  resembling  it  discovered  in  Thrace.^  Dr. 
Bertholon  also  mentions  that  in  the  excavations  made 
by  P^re  Delattre  at  Carthage,  several  instances  of  a 
cavaHer  god  with  conic  head-dress  were  discovered.^ 

M.  Georges  Doublet  considers  the  Abizar  stele  to  be 
a  fine  instance  of  the  ancient  work  of  the  natives  of 
North  Africa,*  representing  the  direct  tradition  of  Berber 
art  at  the  time  of  the  Romans  ;  the  method  and  style 
being  the  same  as  those  of  the  great  rock  sculptures  of 
Hadjar-el-Khenga,  as  well  as  those  of  Hadj  Memoun 
and  so  many  parts  of  the  Souf  and  the  Sahara.^ 

The  Meskoutine  stone  is  in  every  way  of  a  much 
ruder  description  than  the  Abizar  stele.  It  bears 
no  inscription.  The  figure  holds  the  shield  in  the 
right  hand  instead  of  in  the  left,  and  carries  in  its 
'hand  only  two  arrows  instead  of  three.  In  the  Mes- 
ikoutine  example  the  second  man,  the  dog,  and  the 
amulet  are  all  absent. 

^  There  are  various  other  interpretations  :  Berbrugger  reading  the  name 
"  lakous"  ;  Aristide  Letourncux,  "  Babadjedel,  son  of  Kazrouz  Radji "  ;  M. 
Halevy,  "  Babaouadilson,  son  of  Kearour  Ravai." 

*  Bertholon,  La  Religion  des  Libyens,  p.  63,  64. 

'  Delattre,  Cosmos,  1899  (Fig.  1 5) ;  Academie  des  hjscripiions,  1898,  p.  97. 

*  The  Meskoutine  stone  is  another  example. 
^  Doublet,  Musee  d' Alger,  1890  (Plate  VI.). 


CHAPTER    III 

FOUR   GREAT   TOMBS 

Upon  the  high  upland  plateau,  half-way  between  Cirta 
to  the  north  and  the  Aures  Mountains  to  the  south, 
stands  a  huge  pile,  visible  from  a  great  distance,  and 
dominating  the  surrounding  country.  It  is  the  Mad- 
ghasen,  the  sepulchre  of  the  great  Numidian  chiefs,  of 
the  tribe  and  dynasty  of  Madghis,  or  Madgres,  and 
of  Masinissa^  the  greatest  of  them  all. 

Rude  and  severe,  as  also  were  their  lives,  the  great  >. 
solid  mass  seems  a  fitting  burial-place  for  these  primi-  j 
tive  chieftains.  For  Masinissa  especially,  who,  having  | 
spent  his  life  in  fighting,  at  the  age  of  eighty-eight, 
once  more  mounted  his  horse  to  make  war  upon  the 
walls  of  Carthage,  and  was  laid  to  rest  in  the  year  that 
Carthage  finally  fell  before  the  Roman  legions,  146  B.C. 

The  tomb  is  built  of  enormous  stones  upon  a  cir- 
cular base.  The  great  cone  rises  to  its  apex,  which  is 
now  missing,  by  a  series  of  steps  springing  from  sixty 
engaged  columns,  having  Greek  capitals.  When  it 
was  entered  about  forty  years  ago,  the  chambers  and 
galleries  were  found  to  be  empty.  Traces  of  fire  were 
there ;  the  tomb  long  before  had  been  pillaged.  Only 
the  core  of  the  great  mutilated  pile  still  stands,  in 
solemn  grandeur,  defying  the  ravages  of  time  and 
weather.  And  as  Masinissa  embodied  in  his  person 
all  the  courage  and  hardihood  of  the  Berber  chiefs,  so 
the  Madghasen  sums  up  in  itself  the  simpler  and  more 
primitive  forms  of  the  native  tombs. 

It  stands  in  the  heart  of  his  kingdom,  overlooking 
the  country  where  he  lived  and  fought  and  conquered. 


FOUR    GREAT   TOMBS  333 

The  Berbers  are  an  adaptable  people,  and  until  the 
crystallising  influence  of  Islamism  settled  upon  them, 
conformed  to  the  religion  of  their  conquerors.  Yet 
at  heart  they  have  always  been  unconquerable  and 
roving,  and  have  loved  independence.  The  strength 
of  unity  has  never  been  understood  by  them.  Even 
if,  as  sometimes  happened,  a  few  villages  established  a 
league  for  the  sake  of  defence,  that  league  was  always 
quickly  broken.  And  so  to  force  them  to  form  a 
kingdom  amongst  themselves,  or  attach  themselves 
at  all  to  the  soil,  needed  a  strong  man,  as  well 
as  a  valiant  one.  This  triumph  was  achieved  by 
Masinissa. 

Although  he  had  been  brought  up  at  Carthage, 
Masinissa  remained  to  the  end  a  Berber.  It  was 
the  secret  of  his  power  with  his  own  country  people. 
His  physical  strength,  his  power  of  endurance,  and 
indomitable  courage  made  him  invincible.  He  pos- 
sessed also  that  obstinacy  against  fate  which  charac- 
terises the  Berbers,  and  in  which  they  differ  from  the 
Arabs,  who  are  fatahsts.  And  the  foe  against  whom 
he  had  to  fight  was  no  mean  one. 

Between  Masinissa  and  Syphax,  the  great  Massesy- 
lian  chief,  there  had  always  existed  the  jealousy  which 
is  another  characteristic  of  the  Berbers.  It  rose  to  its 
height  when  Syphax  married  Sophonisba,  the  daughter 
of  Hasdrubal,  who,  it  is  said,  had  been  already  promised 
to  his  rival,  and  joined  the  Carthaginians.  Then  Masi- 
nissa left  the  Carthaginian  side,  upon  which  he  had 
always  fought,  and,  under  Scipio,  the  Roman  general, 
took  up  arms  against  Syphax.  Together  they  made  a 
treacherous  attack  upon  the  camp  of  Syphax  and 
Hasdrubal,  near  Utica.  Syphax  was  taken  prisoner, 
and  his  capital,  Cirta,  now  Constantine,  was  given  by 
I  Scipio  to  Masinissa. 


334  TWIXT    SAND   AND    SEA  * 

Of  all  the  great  cities  of  North  Africa,  with  the 
exception  always  of  Carthage,  and  perhaps,  since  the 
Turkish  invasion,  also  of  Algiers,  there  is  none  which 
for  actual  strength,  beauty  of  situation,  strategic  im- 
portance, and  romantic  interest  can  compare  with 
Constantine,  the  Kirtha,  The  City,  or  Cirta  of  Punic 
times,  the  native  metropolis  of  North  Africa.  Com- 
manding the  upper  waters  of  the  Great  River,  Oued-el- 
Kebir  or  Ampsagas,  here  called  the  Rummel,  it  is  buried 
deep  enough  in  the  mountains  to  be  safe  from  surprise, 
yet  near  enough  to  the  plains  and  the  sea  to  be  a  con- 
tinual menace.  The  city  has  passed  into  different  hands 
as  invasion  after  invasion  has  swept  over  the  land.  But 
though  besieged  eighty  times,  it  can  boast  that  since 
the  Romans  took  it  in  the  fourth  century,  and  re- 
christened  it  by  the  name  of  their  Emperor,  it  had 
never  been  conquered  in  fair  fight  until  the  French, 
under  General  Damremont,  captured  it  in  1837  ;  a 
very  gallant  feat  of  arms,  which  has  been  commemo- 
rated by  Horace  Vernet  on  the  walls  of  Versailles. 

To  Cirta,  built  upon  an  almost  impregnable  rock, 
2600  feet  above  the  sea,  with  four  sides  facing  the 
points  of  the  compass,  came  Masinissa.  Upon  the  very 
edge  of  the  precipice  stands  the  Kasba,  the  fortress 
enclosing  the  royal  palace  and  the  courts  of  justice. 
The  scene  was  a  fit  setting  for  the  savage  romance 
and  tragedy  attending  the  Berber  chief's  entrance 
into  the  town. 

At  the  door  of  the  Kasba  stood  Sophonisba,  the 
wife  of  Syphax,  and  the  cause  of  his  desertion  from  the 
Romans.  She  threw  herself  at  Masinissa's  feet,  wring- 
ing her  hands,  and  weeping,  and  beseeching  him  not  to 
let  her  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy  of  her  people, 
the  Romans.  She  was  young  and  beautiful,  and  the 
great  Berber  chief  pitied  her.     If  it  is  true  that  she 


r^*'     i^' 


n 


I    !( 


FOUR    GREAT   TOMBS  335 

had  been  promised  to  Masinissa  before  she  was  given 
to  his  rival,  now  the  moment  of  his  triumph  and 
revenge  had  arrived.  Besides,  as  his  wife,  Sophonisba 
surely  would  be  safe.  He  married  her  the  same  day 
that  he  entered  into  Cirta. 

But  a  tragedy  was  inevitable.  Sophonisba  was 
doomed  to  die.  Wife  successively  of  the  two  savage 
rivals,  she  had  to  bear  the  terrible  burden  of  their 
undying  jealousy  and  hate.  Some  days  later,  when 
Syphax  was  reproached  by  Scipio  for  having  deserted 
Rome,  like  a  true  son  of  Adam,  he  cast  the  blame  upon 
Sophonisba.  "  She  has  lost  you  me,"  he  declared ; 
"  take  care — she  will  lose  you  others." 

And  Scipio  realised  the  danger.  Besides,  Sopho- 
nisba was  really  the  wife  of  his  captive  ;  he  was  de- 
sirous that  the  beautiful  woman  should  grace  his 
triumph  upon  his  return  to  Rome ;  he  demanded  her 
from  Masinissa. 

And  now  the  Berber  chief  was  in  great  straits. 
He  dared  not  keep  Sophonisba.  He  would  not  give 
her  up  into  the  hands  of  the  Romans.  One  thing  only 
remained  :  Sophonisba  must  die.  So  he  sent  her  some 
poison  by  the  hands  of  a  slave.  And,  merely  remark- 
ing that  "  it  would  have  been  more  dignified  if  she  had 
not  been  married  at  her  funeral,"  the  beautiful  woman 
drank  it,  thus  relieving  the  world  of  the  inconvenience 
of  her  presence. 

Her  death  at  the  Kasba  only  swelled  the  number 
!  of  the  deaths  of  women  which  have  taken  place  near 
that  awful  spot. 

The  site  on  which  the  city  stands  rises  sharply  from 

the  south  to  the  north  ;   the  beautiful  little  marabout 

of  Sidi  Rached,  looking  over  the  Pont  du  Diable,  lies 

i  600  feet  lower  than  the  tremendous  rock  of  the  Kasba, 

:  where  th6  river  leaving  the  gorge  dashes  in  a  cascade 


336  'TWIXT   SAND   AND   SEA 

of  two  magnificent  leaps,  to  find  peace  on  the  plain 
below.  It  was  over  the  edge  of  this  rock,  resem- 
bling in  many  ways  the  Salto  di  Tiberio  in  Capri, 
that  hundreds  of  the  inhabitants  of  Constantine  were 
driven  by  the  French  when  they  stormed  the  town. 
Over  this  awful  precipice  from  time  immemorial,  right 
down  to  the  time  of  the  French  occupation,  unfaithful 
wives  have  been  thrown  by  the  King  or  Governor.  It 
is  a  terrible  height.  Looking  up  from  the  little  foot- 
path running  round  the  gorge  at  a  distance  of  a  few 
yards  from  the  bottom,  the  great  rock  looms  up  like 
the  figure  of  a  most  cruel  fate.  The  mournful  gran- 
deur of  the  place  is  in  keeping  with  the  character  of 
Masinissa  and  other  stern  and  savage  chieftains  and 
the  uncompromising  times  in  which  they  lived. 

Casting  from  a  cliff  has  always  been  one  of  the 
commonest  forms  of  execution  ;  as,  for  instance,  from 
the  Tarpeian  rock  at  Rome.  These  executions  partook 
of  the  nature  of  an  atoning  sacrifice  ;  the  victim  was 
regarded  either  as  the  representative  of  a  god,  or  as 
the  representative  of  a  tribesman,  whose  life  was  sacred 
to  his  fellows.  They  were  *'  slain  before  the  Lord."  ^ 
Care  was  taken  that  no  blood  should  be  spilt,  for  the 
blood  that  falls  to  the  ground  calls  for  vengeance. 
And  so,  to  avoid  the  guilt  of  blood  from  being  fixed 
upon  any  individual,  criminals  were  sometimes  stoned 
by  the  whole  congregation,  or  strangled  or  drowned ; 
or,  more  generally,  pushed  from  a  height,  that  they 
might  seem  to  kill  themselves  by  their  fall.^ 

Between  the  east  side  of  the  city  of  Constantine  and 
the  opposing  heights  of  Mansourah,  the  gorge  of  the 
Rummel  is  narrow,  rarely  more  than  some  hundred 
yards  across,  and  straight.     Fragments  of  Roman  ruins 

^  2  Sam.  xxi.  9  ;  Num.  xxv.  4. 

*  Robertson  Smith,  Religion  of  the  Semites^  p.  419. 


FOUR    GREAT   TOMBS  337 

still  cling  to  its  precipitous  sides  wherever  lodgment 
can  be  found.  Along  the  north  side  the  water  has  bur- 
rowed deep  down  through  a  series  of  caverns  until  it 
reaches  the  Kasba.  The  Romans  took  advantage  of 
the  natural  arch  thus  formed  at  the  angle  of  the 
two  sides,  using  the  arch  as  its  foundation,  to  erect 
a  magnificent  bridge,  known  here,  as  were  the  bridges 
at  Toledo,  the  Calceus  Herculis  near  Biskra,  and 
elsewhere,  as  "El  Kantara,"  the  Bridge.  Its  ruins 
still  remain. 

It  was  over  this  bridge  that  Marshal  Clausel  de- 
livered his  ineffectual  assault  in  1836  ;  and  it  was  on 
the  slopes  of  Mansourah  that  in  the  disastrous  retreat 
of  the  French,  which  followed  his  failure,  Changarnier 
won  the  reputation  which  he  so  nobly  sustained  in 
the  Crimea. 

"  Soldiers,"  he  said  to  his  little  detachment  of  the 
2nd  Light  Infantry,  when  they  were  cut  off  from  the 
main  body,  of  which  they  formed  the  rear-guard,  and 
were  surrounded  by  the  enemy,  "  Soldiers — you  see 
those  people  there  ?  Well,  there  are  6000  of  them  to 
300  of  us,  so  the  sides  are  equal."  The  sequel  proved 
that  the  boast  was  true. 

The  Bridge  has  now  been  replaced  by  an  iron 
structure  of  a  single  span. 

On  the  west  side  of  the  city,  though  no  longer  over- 
looking the  river,  the  precipice  is  equally  formidable. 
Along  the  south  side  the  escarpments  are  still  steep  and 
lofty  save  for  a  narrow  neck  of  almost  level  ground, 
little  more  than  200  yards  across,  which  joins  the  city 
to  the  suburb  Koudiat  Aty.  It  was  here  that  in  the 
siege  of  1837  General  Damremont  planted  his  can- 
non ;  here  that  he  was  killed  on  October  12,  the  day 
before  the  place  was  stormed  by  the  gallant  Colonel 
Lamoriciere. 

Y 


338  TWIXT   SAND    AND   SEA 

"  Remember,  Colonel,  and  tell  your  men,"  said 
Valee,  who  had  succeeded  to  the  command,  "  that 
if  by  ten  o'clock  the  city  is  not  taken,  at  noon  the 
retreat  will  begin."  "  By  ten  o'clock,"  was  the  reply, 
'*  the  city  will  be  ours,  or  we  shall  be  dead." 

By  nine  o'clock  both  prophecies  were  fulfilled. 

Such  is  the  mighty  fortress,  the  capital  city  of 
Syphax,  Masinissa,  and  Jugurtha ;  a  Durham  as  large 
as  Toledo,  protected  by  the  gorge  of  Ronda ;  the  key 
of  the  kingdom  or  province  of  Numidia.  t 


Upon  one  of  the  last  mountains  of  the  Sahel  stands 
another  great  tomb,  in  form  resembling  the  Madghasen, 
but  larger,  and  dominating  even  more  completely  the 
surrounding  country.  Here  were  buried  Juba  II., 
King  of  Mauretania,  and  his  wife,  Cleopatra  Selene, 
whose  capital  was  at  Caesarea,  now  called  Cherchell. 

His  kingdom  was  won  without  fighting.  His 
father,  the  hardy  old  Berber  King,  Juba  I.,  had  taken 
the  part  of  Pompey,  and,  rather  than  suffer  disgrace 
when  defeated  by  Julius  Caesar,  committed  suicide. 
His  son  was  taken  in  triumph  to  Rome.  Later, 
Augustus,  who  had  taken  a  fancy  to  the  young  man, 
gave  him  as  wife  another  captive,  Cleopatra  Selene, 
the  daughter  of  Antony  and  Cleopatra.  He  presented 
him  also  with  the  kingdom  of  Mauretania,  which  had 
been  taken  from  his  father.  And  the  young  Juba  and 
his  wife  were  sent  to  that  half  savage  country  with 
orders  from  the  Emperor  to  civilise  it.  It  must  have 
been  a  hard  task  that  was  given  him ;  but  whatever 
he  was  or  was  not  able  to  accomplish  for  the  improve- 
ment of  the  condition  of  his  people,  he  certainly  worked 
hard  for  the  cultivation  of  art.  In  this  he  was  doubt- 
less helped  by  his  beautiful  Egyptian  wife,  Cleopatra 


I 


FOUR    GREAT   TOMBS  339 

Selene.  A  fine  library  was  collected  at  Cherchell. 
The  place  was  enriched  with  statues,  and  works  of  art 
were  brought  from  Rome.  The  tomb  which  was 
destined  to  be  the  final  resting-place  of  himself  and 
the  great  woman  his  wife,  he  adorned  with  marbles 
and  bronze  ornaments.  Its  apex  was  crowned  by  a 
colossal  statue. 

Nothing  of  all  this  splendour  remains.  You  climb 
by  a  steep  and  narrow  footpath  up  the  side  of  the 
mountain,  through  the  thickly  growing  arbutus  bushes, 
gleaming  with  rough  scarlet  fruit.  For  a  while  the 
massive  ruin — for  it  is  nothing  more — which  is  visible 
from  the  sea  and  front  and  all  parts  of  the  Metidja 
excepting  only  from  Cherchell,  is  lost  to  sight.  Then 
suddenly  it  bursts  upon  you.  You  are  close  to  it, 
standing  even  under  its  shadow. 
.  It  is  a  wild  scene,  a  scene  of  desolation  and  destruc- 
tion. But  the  desolation  is  a  grand  one,  and  the 
destruction  is  only  partial.  Ruin  though  it  is,  this 
wonderful  work  of  men's  hands  fills  one  with  astonish- 
ment. For  nineteen  centuries  it  has  been  standing 
there  watching ;  sky,  and  mountains,  and  the  sea  below 
beating  itself  for  ever  against  the  cold  breast  of  the 
rock. 

Huge  blocks  of  stone  lie  heaped  up  round  and 
about  the  base  of  the  tomb ;  great  broken  columns, 
half  buried  in  the  grass  and  scrub.  Ruthless  work 
has  been  done  here  at  some  time. 

The  tomb  itself  is  circular,  and,  Hke  the  pyra- 
mids, soUd.  It  is  surounded  by  sixty  Ionic  engaged 
columns,  surmounted  by  a  cornice.  Above  the  cornice 
rise  the  steps,  mounting  towards  the  apex.  At  the 
cardinal  points  are  four  enormous  slabs  of  stone,  like 
doors.  Their  panels,  rudely  cut,  have  the  appearance 
of  a  great  cross.    Probably  this  has  given  rise  to  the 


340  'TWIXT   SAND   AND   SEA 

obviously  erroneous  translation  of  the  name,  Kbour 
Roumia,  as  "  The  Tomb  of  the  Christian."  ^ 

Two  pretty  little  Arab  girls  from  a  hut  close  by  were 
waiting  to  take  us  inside  the  tomb.  They  had  seen 
us  coming,  and  have  the  key  and  some  candles  ready, 
wherewith  to  light  up  the  interior  of  the  great  sepulchre, 
which  means  nothing  to  them  but  possibly  the  gift  of  a 
few  sous.  Stooping  down,  you  creep  through  a  low 
door,  and  find  yourself  in  a  rude  chamber.  Upon 
the  stone  over  the  entrance,  which  leads  from  this 
chamber  to  the  centre  of  the  tomb,  a  lion  and  lioness 
are  rudely  carved,  probably  the  same  emblems  as 
those  which  are  painted  over  the  house  of  a  mara- 
bout. You  wind  on  slowly  in  single  file,  following 
the  two  little  girls  with  their  glimmering  candles. 
Huge  bats  cling  thickly  to  the  roof  of  the  low  passage. 
Startled  by  the  unwonted  light  of  the  candles,  they 
stir  with  a  soft,  almost  inaudible  rustle.  One  of  them 
detaches  itself  and  flies  with  great  flapping  wings,  like 
some  restless  spirit,  through  the  gloom. 

The  difference  between  the  Madghasen  and  the 
Tomb  of  the  Christian  is  that  in  the  former  the  pas- 
sage goes  straight  to  the  centre,  while  in  the  latter  it  is 
spiral.  In  the  centre  of  the  Tomb  of  the  Christian  are 
two  funeral  chambers.  In  one  of  them  doubtless  lay 
Juba  II.  ;  in  the  other,  his  beautiful  wife,  Cleopatra. 
Now  both  are  untenanted,  save  for  the  bats.  Even 
the  dust  of  the  great  Berber  King  and  the  Egyptian 
Princess  has  been  scattered  to  the  winds. 

The  Arabs  have  rifled  the  tomb,  hoping  to  discover 
in  it  the  treasure  which  they  believe  to  exist  in  all 
buildings  or  monuments  the  origin  of  which  they  do 

^  "  Kbour  Roumia,"  as  the  tomb  is  called  by  the  natives,  who  attribute 
every  building,  the  origin  of  which  is  unknown  to  them,  to  the  Romans, 
simply  means  "  The  Roman  Tomb."  Roumia  is  also  the  name  now  given 
by  the  Arabs  to  the  Christians. 


mi 


:^?U^ll 


House  of  a  AIarabout,   Kairouan 


I 

I 


FOUR    GREAT   TOMBS  341 

not  understand,  and  legends  of  all  kinds  have  gathered 
round  the  sepulchre,  of  which  the  following  is  one. 

An  Arab  of  the  Metidja,  named  Ben  Kassem, 
having  been  taken  prisoner  by  the  Christians,  was 
carried  off  to  Spain.  There  he  was  sold  as  a  slave  to 
an  old  magician  or  sorcerer.  One  day  his  master  heard 
him  lamenting  bitterly  the  captivity  which  separated 
him,  perhaps  for  ever,  from  his  family,  and  said  to 
him  :  "  Listen,  I  will  send  you  back  again  to  your 
own  country,  and  to  your  people,  if  you  will  promise 
to  do  exactly  as  I  tell  you.  When  you  arrive,  go  and 
see  your  family  ;  stay  with  them  three  days  ;  then  go 
to  the  Tomb  of  the  Christian,  and  there  burn  this 
magical  scroll  in  a  brazier,  at  the  same  time  turning 
yourself  towards  the  east.  Do  not  be  surprised  at 
anything  that  happens,  but  return  home  again.  This 
is  all  I  demand  in  return  for  your  liberty." 

Ben  Kassem,  seeing  nothing  contrary  to  his  religion 
in  carrying  out  the  orders  of  the  sorcerer,  did  exactly 
as  he  had  been  requested.  The  instant  that  the  paper 
was  consumed  by  the  flames  the  Tomb  opened.  A  cloud 
of  gold  and  silver  pieces  flowed  out  towards  the  sea  in 
the  direction  of  Spain.  The  man  stood  for  a  moment 
transfixed  at  the  wonderful  sight.  Then  he  spread  his 
burnous  under  the  stream  of  treasure  and  caught  some 
of  it.  Immediately  the  flow  of  money  ceased.  The 
charm  was  broken  ;  and  the  Tomb  closed  up  again. 

For  a  long  time  Ben  Kassem  maintained  a  discreet 
silence  about  what  had  happened.  But  the  adventure 
was  too  wonderful ;  he  could  not  keep  it  to  himself, 
and  the  tale  soon  reached  the  ears  of  the  Pacha,  who 
according  to  legend  was  Salah  Rais,  who  reigned  from 
1552  to  1556.  The  Pacha  sent  an  enormous  band  of 
workmen  with  orders  to  demolish  the  sepulchre  and  to 
carry  off  whatever  treasure  they  found  there.    But  the 


342  'TWIXT    SAND   AND   SEA 

first  blow  of  the  hammer  had  scarcely  fallen,  when  a 
woman  appeared  upon  the  apex  of  the  tomb,  stretching 
out  her  arms  and  crying,  "  Halloula,  Halloula — come 
to  my  help."  ^  Immediately  her  appeal  was  answered. 
A  cloud  of  mosquitoes  came  and  attacked  the  work- 
men, effectually  preventing  them  from  continuing  their 
work  of  destruction. 

So  the  great  pile  crowning  the  heights  remains 
until  this  day. 

In  the  sixteenth  century  the  Spaniards  believed 
that  it  was  the  sepulchre  of  Cava,  the  beautiful  girl 
who  was  seduced  by  the  King  of  the  Visigoths,  whose 
father,  to  avenge  her  wrong,  gave  Spain  into  the  hands 
of  the  Mussulmans.  Others  speak  of  immense  treasure 
being  jealously  guarded  in  the  tomb  by  the  Fairy 
Halloula.^  At  rare  intervals  fortunate  mortals  have 
been  given  a  share  in  these  treasures. 

A  neighbouring  shepherd,  so  the  story  goes,  had 
remarked  that  one  of  his  cows  disappeared  every  night, 
and  the  following  morning  always  returned  to  the 
herd.  One  night,  having  decided  to  watch  the  animal, 
he  saw  her  creep  in  at  an  opening  in  the  Tomb  of  the 
Christian,  which  immediately  closed  upon  her.  The 
following  day  a  brilliant  idea  struck  him.  Hanging 
upon  the  cow's  tail  at  the  moment  that  she  entered 
the  opening,  he  was  drawn  in  after  her.  At  sunrise 
he  came  out  again,  bringing  with  him  so  much  gold 
that  he  became  the  richest  man  in  the  place. 

Another  wonderful  tomb  there  is  of  which  I  must 
speak.     It  stands  amongst  the  grand  old  olives  upon 

'  This  allusion  is  interesting  because  the  level  plain  just  below  the  hill 
upon  which  the  "Tomb  of  the  Christian  "  stands  was  the  site  of  an  ancient 
Lake  Halloula.  The  appeal  was  evidently  made  to  the  fairy  or  spirit  of 
the  lake. 

2  A.  M.  Gsell. 


I 


FOUR    GREAT   TOMBS  343 

the  borders  of  the  ancient  Roman  city  of  Thugga,  not 
far  from  the  great  arch  of  Septimius  Severus  and  the 
road  to  Kef.  It  belongs  to  the  fourth  century  B.C., 
and  is  the  most  important  specimen  of  Punic  archi- 
tecture which  escaped  the  Romans  in  their  ruthless 
and  bitter  destruction  of  everything  that  might  recall 
the  prosperity  and  splendour  of  the  first  Carthage. 
Two  thousand  four  hundred  years  later  it  was  partially 
thrown  down.  Its  restoration  by  the  French  Govern- 
ment is  not  yet  finished.  The  four  great  Victories  that 
crowned  it  still  lie  dethroned  amongst  the  long  grass, 
under  the  olive  trees,  in  company  with  many  of  the 
huge  stones  which  have  yet  to  be  raised  before  the 
beautiful  pile  is  once  again  complete. 

The  trading  Phoenicians,  when  they  came  to 
North  Africa,  settled  in  towns  and  upon  the  coast, 
and  made  friends  with  the  natives,  the  Numidians 
or  Berbers,  who  still  remained  the  inhabitants  of 
the  country.  And,  as  I  have  said  elsewhere,  there 
was  much  intermarrying  between  the  principal  families 
of  the  two  people,  and  some  fusion  of  their  manners 
and  customs  and  religious  ideas.  The  more  savage 
natives  benefited  in  some  measure  by  the  higher 
civilisation  of  the  strangers.  And  so  it  came  to  pass 
that  the  beautiful  mausoleum  of  Punic  architecture 
was  erected  at  Thugga  as  the  burial-place  of  a  Berber 
petty  king  or  great  lord.  Nothing  is  known  of  him 
but  his  name  and  those  of  two  of  his  ancestors. 

Ataban,  son  of  Ifmatat,  son  of  Falao — these  names, 
with  an  inscription,  are  recorded  both  in  Libyan  and 
Punic,  the  two  languages  which  were  then  spoken  in 
the  country,  upon  a  stone  that  was  inserted  on  one 
side  of  the  tomb.  It  was  this  stone  that  caused  the 
partial  destruction  of  the  mausoleum. 

In  1842  the  British  Consul-General  at  Tunis  dis- 


344  'TWIXT    SAND   AND    SEA  * 

covered  the  inscription,  and  realising  its  immense 
interest,  made  the,  perhaps  to  our  present  ideas, 
unfortunate  mistake  of  thinking  that  the  British 
Museum  was  a  better  place  for  it  than  its  original 
position.  He  therefore  obtained  leave  from  the  Bey 
to  remove  it.  Unluckily,  the  men  employed  to  do 
so  damaged  the  tomb  itself.  The  top  and  the 
greater  part  of  the  sides  were  thrown  down  before  the 
precious  relic  could  be  detached.  However,  though 
displaced,  the  stones  were  not  removed  from  the  spot 
or  seriously  injured.  And  the  work  of  rebuilding  the 
tomb  is  rapidly  being  carried  out. 

The  French  never  cease  to  rail  against  Sir  Thomas 
Read  for  this  "  act  of  Vandahsm,"  as  they  call  it. 
One  cannot  altogether  wonder,  for  to  them  the  chief 
value  of  the  mausoleum  is  destroyed.  The  stone  with 
its  interesting  inscription  has  passed  out  of  their  pos- 
session ;  and  doubtless  its  loss  is  not  compensated  for 
by  the  fact  that  it  is  safely  housed  and  valued  in  a 
London  Museum. 

Another  act  of  the  British  Consul  is  recorded 
upon  his  tombstone  in  the  cemetery  of  the  English 
Church  at  Tunis — that  he  used  his  personal  influence 
with  the  Bey,  and  prevailed  upon  him  to  abolish 
slavery  throughout  his  dominions.  It  seems  a  pity 
that  the  "  act  of  Vandalism  "  should  be  more  gene- 
rally remembered  by  the  French  in  Algiers  than  the 
act  of  humanity. 

The  tomb  at  Thugga  is  square,  and  is  surmounted 
by  that  form  of  pyramid  which  had  already  been  em- 
ployed for  Egyptian  tombs  in  the  eighteenth  dynasty, 
and  which  spread  afterwards  throughout  the  East, 
reaching  North  Africa,  the  Cyrenaique,  and  TripoU.^ 
Mons.  Saladin,  who  has  made  a  special  study  of  these 

^  Rene  Cagnat. 


I 


FOUR    GREAT   TOMBS  345 

tombs,  says  that  they  contain  a  mixture  of  both  Greek 
and  Egyptian  elements  ;  the  cornice  and  capitals  being 
Egyptian,  the  figures  and  decoration  being  Greek. 
This  mixture  constitutes  Carthaginian  art. 

Mons.  Saladin  is  also  able  to  give  a  description  of 
what  the  tomb  was  like  before  it  was  destroyed,  and 
therefore  what  it  will  be  when  it  has  reached  that 
completion  which  is  rapidly  approaching.  The  lower 
stage,  which  is  decorated  with  Ionic  pilasters  and  false 
windows,  rises  upon  a  square  base  composed  of  several 
steps.  Upon  the  eastern  side  was  an  opening  leading 
to  the  interior.  The  second  stage  repeated  the  lower 
one,  resting  upon  more  steps  and  forming  another 
massive  square  with  Ionic  decorations  and  engaged 
capitals.  Above  this,  upon  another  platform  of  steps, 
flanked  at  its  corners  with  pedestals  bearing  figures  of 
men  upon  horseback,  stood  the  third  storey.  This 
was  decorated  in  the  same  manner  as  the  first. 
Upon  the  sides  were  representations  of  four  horse 
chariots,  in  low  relief  in  archaic  style.  The  beautiful 
monument  was  completed  by  the  pyramid,  having  at 
its  angles  the  four  great  winged  Victories,  and  was 
crowned  by  a  lion. 

A  most  interesting  tomb  was  excavated  near 
Menerville  in  1896,  the  stones  of  which  have  been 
taken  to  make  the  roads  of  the  town  !  ^ 

The  tomb  stood  upon  the  high  ground  above 
Menerville,  not  far  from  the  only  pass  leading  through 
the  mountainous  tract  lying  between  the  Metidja  and 
Kabylia.  It  was  through  this  pass,  which  they  could 
not  have  discovered  for  themselves,  that  the  French 
were  conducted  by  an  Arab  against  the  powerful  and 

^  Taking  into  consideration  the  immense  interest  shown  by  the  French 
I  in  the  excavations  they  are  carrying  out  in  North  Africa,  that  this  act  of 
vandalism  should  have  been  permitted  is  all  the  more  surprising. 


346  'TWIXT   SAND   AND    SEA 

warlike  Kabyle  tribe  of  the  Ait  Iraten,  who  had 
offered  the  stoutest  resistance  to  their  conquerors.^ 

The  situation  of  the  tomb  was  a  magnificent  one. 
After  a  train  journey  from  Algiers  and  a  drive  of  some 
miles  in  a  carriage  obtained  from  Menerville,  we  started 
to  climb  the  steep  side  of  the  hill  at  the  summit  of 
which,  as  we  supposed,  still  stood  the  tomb.  We 
were  anxious  to  compare  it  with  others — the  Tomb 
of  the  Christian,  the  Madghasen,  and  the  one  at 
Thugga  already  described.  The  day  was  hot,  and  the 
climb  up  the  hill  was  rough  walking  ;  but  the  view 
all  the  time  was  beautiful — a  wonderful  panorama 
enclosed  by  mountains.  And  every  moment  we  ex- 
pected, as  we  wound  round  the  steep  ascent,  that  a 
sight  of  the  tomb  would  burst  upon  us.  At  last  we 
reached  the  top  of  the  hill. 

'*  That  is  the  tomb,"  said  the  Arab  guide,  pointing 
to  a  hollow  in  the  ground  where  the  crypt  had  been, 
and  a  few  loose  stones  lying  scattered  about. 

The  sepulchre  itself  had  vanished  into  space.  We 
had  made  an  utterly  fruitless  journey.  I  shall  not 
easily  forget  the  sensation  of  disappointment  as,  hot 
and  angry,  we  stood  and  gazed  at  the  spot  where  the 
tomb  had  once  been. 

Now  nothing  remains  but  to  give  the  account  of 
the  mausoleum  as  it  has  been  described  by  M.  Stephane 
Gsell,  who  saw  it  before  it  was  destroyed. 

It  belonged  to  the  fourth  century  of  our  era,  and 
was  probably  of  more  than  four  hundred  years  later 
date  than  the  Tomb  of  the  Christian.  But  with  this 
tomb  it  had  many  points  in  common.  Both  sepulchres 
had  the  same  subterranean  entrance,  the  same  base, 

*  The  Kabyles  have  never  forgiven  their  betrayal,  and  still  speak 
bitterly  of  the  traitor  who  "  sold  them  to  the  French,"  and  regard  with 
resentment  Fort  National,  which  was  built  in  1857,  and  overlooks  their 
country  and  ensures  their  enforced  subjection. 


FOUR    GREAT   TOMBS  347 

the  same  false  doors,  engaged  columns,  and  Ionic 
capitals.  The  same  circular  gallery  led  to  the  funeral 
chamber,  while  the  rude  figures  of  lions  cut  over  the 
door  leading  into  the  passage,  were  in  both  instances 
alike.    These  are  the  points  of  resemblance. 

But  there  are  also  differences.  Both  the  earlier 
sepulchres,  the  Madghasen  and  the  Tomb  of  the 
Christian,  are  purely  native  in  character ;  the  de- 
veloped form  of  the  primitive  tomb  or  tumulus. 
But  the  Menerville  tomb  showed  foreign  influence  ; 
probably  Roman.  It  was,  says  M.  Gsell,  octagonal. 
Upon  each  side  were  massive  engaged  columns,  bearing 
Ionic  capitals  with  large  volutes,  very  like  those  em- 
ployed in  the  neighbouring  ancient  Christian  churches 
— at  Tipasa,  for  instance  ;  the  bases  of  the  columns 
were  covered  with  a  profusion  of  ornament,  of  floral 
and  geometrical  design.  Upon  a  stone  between  two  of 
the  capitals  was  carved  a  chalice  flanked  by  two  fish. 

The  mortuary  itself  was  empty ;  but  there  were 
evidences  of  foreign  influence  in  its  construction.  It 
was  unlike  the  small  caverns  which  in  the  Madghasen 
and  the  Tomb  of  the  Christian  seem  to  be  a  develop- 
ment of  the  simple  stone  coffer  of  the  primitive  African 
tumulus.  The  sepulchral  chamber  at  Menerville  was 
very  much  larger.  It  recalled  the  form  of  the  hollow 
tombs  of  Rome.  But  in  this  part  of  North  Africa 
there  are  few  traces  of  Roman  civilisation,  and  no 
remains  have  been  discovered  of  Roman  towns.  So 
the  fact  of  this  tomb  having  displayed  the  mixture  of 
Roman  and  African  styles  causes  M.  Gsell  to  think 
that  it  was  built  by  a  native  prince  who  had  fallen 
under  Roman  influence  without  forgetting  the  tradi- 
tions of  his  ancestors. 


CHAPTER    IV 

PROPHETS    OF    ISLAM 

During  our  stay  at  Tolga  we  received  a  visiting  card 
inscribed  with  the  name  of  Abdelmajid  ben  Cheick  Sidi 
AH  ben  Amor,  accompanied  by  an  invitation  to  have 
coffee.  We  went  to  the  house,  and  found  a  grand- 
looking  old  man,  magnificently  dressed,  sitting  in  a 
room,  surrounded  by  his  village  council,  a  group  also 
of  fine  old  men.  We  were  told  that  he  was  the 
marabout. 

Another  day  we  visited  the  baths  of  Fontaine 
Chaude,  near  Biskra.  A  group  of  Arabs  were  standing 
in  the  doorway  as  we  arrived  by  the  little  tram-car. 
In  their  midst  stood  a  man  who  towered  head  and 
shoulders  above  any  of  them.  A  whisper  went  round 
amongst  the  natives  in  the  car — "  the  Marabout  of 
Tolga" — and  they  looked  at  him  with  awe.  It  was 
our  old  friend  again,  who  had  driven  over  in  state 
in  a  hired  French  carriage  to  take  the  baths. 

In  the  Souks  at  Kairouan  was  an  old  man,  horribly 
dirty  and  almost  naked.  His  hair  was  worn  long,  in 
memory  of  the  Prophet ;  both  it  and  his  hands  were 
stained  with  henna,  the  reddish  dye  which  is  made 
from  the  leaves  of  the  oleander  or  other  plants,  and  is 
supposed  to  have  special  occult  properties.  In  his 
hands  he  carried  a  small  shell  cup  for  alms.  The 
people  were  flocking  round  him,  kissing  his  hands 
and  his  garments,  and  giving  him  money  and  food. 
He  also  was  a  marabout. 

At  Tunis,  in  one  of  the  narrow  streets,  a  young 


PROPHETS    OF    ISLAM  349 

man  is  sitting.  He  is  ragged,  dirty,  and  half-starved. 
Week  after  week  he  gets  poorer,  and  more  ragged,  and 
more  starved  in  appearance.  Not  long  ago  he  was 
good-looking,  well-dressed,  and  following  a  trade. 
Suddenly  he  ceased  to  work  ;  a  change  came  over 
him  ;  he  had  received  a  call.  Now  he  is  a  marabout 
in  the  making.  As  yet  his  reputation  as  such  is  not 
fully  established.  Gifts  are  not  showered  upon  him 
even  for  the  asking.  But  his  time  will  come.  Pre- 
sently the  kindness  will  be  upon  his  side  in  receiving 
the  offerings ;  it  will  be  considered  a  privilege  to  be 
allowed  to  give  him  anything. 

Again,  at  Biskra,  in  the  native  village,  a  little  old 

i  man  is  seen  coming  down  the  road  accompanied  by  two 

I  or  three  tall  Arabs.     He  is  dressed  in  spotless  white, 

and  has  a  keen,  refined,  alert,  well-cut  face,  reminding 

one  of  the  pictures  of  Cardinal  Newman.     He  is  very 

;  rich,  and  he  also  is  a  marabout. 

I        The  fact  being,  that  there  is  no  outward  sign  by 

which  the  marabout  may  be  known.     He  may  live  in 

a  large  house,  be  rich  and  belong  to  a  hereditary  line 

I  of  marabouts,  as  do  those  of  Tolga,  of  Biskra,  and 

El  Hamel,  and  as  is  usual  amongst  the  Arabs  of  the 

oases,   or  he   may   be    poor   and   dirty   and   live  in 

a  state  of  isolation  as  a  hermit.     He  may   even  be 

mentally  deficient  or  an  epileptic.     For  these  afflicted 

}i  people    are   to    the   primitive    mind   surrounded   by 

|;  mystery,  and  relegated,  with  everything  which  is  not 

\\  understood,  to  the  realms  of  the  supernatural.     But 

I  i  one  thing,  at  any  rate,  all  marabouts  have  in  common. 

'  No  matter  to  what  class  they  may  belong,  or  for 

I  what   reason  they   originally   ranked   as  such,  when 

i  once  the  honour  is  attained,  they  are  all  accredited 

with  magical  gifts. 

As  the  holy  men  of  every  cult  and  every  religion 


350  'TWIXT   SAND    AND    SEA 

have  always  been  endowed  by  their  followers  with  the 
power  to  work  miracles,  so  the  marabout  is  likewise 
believed  to  possess  this  special  attribute.  Many  are 
the  tales  of  signs  and  wonders  accomplished.  They 
go  on  accumulating  even  at  the  present  time.  Modern 
civilisation,  instead  of  interfering  with  the  growth  of 
the  stories,  is  simply  absorbed  into  them. 

To  take  railways  for  example  :  quite  recently  the 
Marabout  of  El  H'amel  is  said,  by  force  of  miracle, 
to  have  stopped  the  train  in  which  he  was  travelling, 
causing  it  to  wait  for  him  while  he  got  out  and  said 
his  prayers  by  the  side  of  the  line. 

A  curious  illustration  of  the  prevailing  belief  in  the 
power  of  the  marabout  to  transfer  himself  rapidly  from 
place  to  place  by  occult  means  was  given  us  by  an 
Arab  boy  at  Bou  Saada.  The  reputed  marabout,  who 
strangely  enough  in  this  case  happened  to  be  the  French 
cure  of  the  place,  was  able,  said  my  informant,  to  "fly 
like  a  scarab."  He  was  often  seen  by  the  natives  flying 
over  the  mountains  at  night.  Upon  one  occasion  dur- 
ing the  daytime  two  natives  were  journeying  from  Bou 
Saada  across  the  desert.  When  they  had  travelled  a 
distance  of  forty  miles  they  suddenly  saw  the  cure 
whom  they  had  left  behind  in  the  village.  He  had 
reached  the  spot  before  them.  The  conclusion  they 
came  to  was  that  he  had  flown  there.  The  cure  is  now 
living  in  Algiers,  but,  the  boy  told  us,  he  did  not  fly 
there — that  would  never  have  done  ;  too  many  people 
would  have  seen  him,  and  he  wished  to  keep  the  fact 
of  his  powers  secret. 

I  have  been  told  by  a  native  yet  another  story  of 
modern  miracle.  One  day  a  French  officer  wished  to 
enter  a  shrine,  and  the  marabout  to  whom  it  belonged 
objected  to  his  doing  so.  The  soldier  persisted  and 
went  in  notwithstanding,  and  suddenly  the  marabout 


Marabout  at  Bou  Saada 


PROPHETS    OF    ISLAM  351 

struck  him  blind.  Only  when  he  had  repented  and 
subscribed  a  large  sum  of  money  to  the  shrine,  did  the 
holy  man  consent  to  perform  yet  another  miracle  for 
the  soldier's  recovery. 

The  curious  thing  is  that  at  the  same  time  that 
the  marabout  is  surrounded  by  all  this  mystery,  and 
accredited  with  supernatural  powers,  he  is  living  in 
the  midst  of  the  people,  moving  about  amongst  them, 
and  practically  sharing  their  daily  life. 

The  origin  of  the  name  Marabout  is  said  to  be 
Mirabtt,  which  signifies  one  who  serves  in  a  Rahzt.  The 
rahit  was  a  fort,  established  principally  upon  the 
borders  of  the  Mussulman  Empire,  and  acting  as  the 
base  of  operations  against  the  infidels.^  In  the  rahit 
the  business  of  war  alternated  with  pious  exercises. 
Later,  when  peace  was  more  or  less  established,  and 
the  original  use  of  the  rahzt  was  no  longer  necessary, 
it  became  a  monastery  or  zaouia,  and  its  guardian  the 
Mirdhit — a  religious  apostle.  Morocco  has  always 
been  a  great  centre  for  these  zealots.  Numbers  of 
them  are  said  to  have  started  from  thence  upon  mis- 
sionary journeys  during  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth 
centuries,  the  great  missionising  period  of  Islamism. 
As  they  arrived  as  strangers  in  those  parts  of  the 
country  which  they  desired  to  convert,  and  as  they  laid 
claim  to  unusual  gifts,  it  is  conceivable  that  they  were 
looked  upon  by  the  people  in  the  light  of  sorcerers. 
For  the  sorcerer  is  generally  a  stranger,  or  a  person 
around  whom  there  seems  to  hang  some  mystery. 
Magical  powers,  therefore,  were  ascribed  to  these 
zealots.  Then  gradually,  as  Islamism  spread,  the 
sorcerers  and  their  magical  powers  were  received 
into  the  new  reHgion.  The  sun,  the  moon,  and  the 
heavenly  host  became  Allah,  and  the  sorcerer  was 

1  M.  E.  Doutte. 


352  'TWIXT    SAND    AND    SEA 

changed  into  the  Mtrdhit.     In   this  way  their  con- 
tinuity has  been  preserved. 

The  MirahH  is  the  sorcerer  Islamised.  For  into 
Islamism,  as  well  as  into  Christianity,  many  practices  of 
former  religions  were  received  because  they  could  not  be 
got  rid  of.  These  practices,  however,  being  only  looked 
upon  as  sorcery  just  so  long  as  they  remained  outside 
the  prevailing  religion,  the  distinction  between  the  sor- 
cerer and  the  marabout  remains  extremely  indefinite. 
For  the  powers  of  the  saint  became  the  same  as  had 
been  the  powers  of  the  sorcerer.  Both  are  accredited 
with  marvellous  and  supernatural  attributes.  Both 
have  intercourse  and  commerce  with  the  djinns  or 
spirits.^  Both  have  power  over  the  forces  of  nature  ; 
can  command  rain  or  cause  it  to  cease.  Both  are 
able  upon  occasion  to  render  themselves  invisible,  to 
transport  themselves  instantaneously  from  one  place 
to  another,  and  transform  themselves  into  various 
kinds  of  animals. 

And  not  only  do  the  people  believe  all  these 
wonderful  things  of  the  marabout,  but  the  marabout 
also  believes  them  of  himself.  Charlatanism,  it  is  true, 
may  enter  into  all  dealings  with  mysteries  and  things 
which  are  not  understood.  In  all  cases  where  the  laity 
remains  in  ignorance,  it  is  liable  to  be  deliberately 
imposed  upon.  But  this  is  not  by  any  means  always 
the  case.  The  profound  faith  of  the  people  in  their 
marabout  and  his  supernatural  powers,  often  have 
the  effect  of  making  him  believe  in  them  himself — 
or,  if  not  in  their  actual  existence,  at  any  rate  in 
the  possibility. 

In  the  mystery  surrounding  the  marabout,  doubt- 
less, lies  the  secret  of  his  influence  with  the  people. 

1  The  marabouts  are  said  to  instruct  the  djinns  in  the  Qu'ran.     (M.  £. 
Doutte.) 


PROPHETS    OF    ISLAM  353 

i  His  power  over  them  is  the  power  of  pagan  times. 
I  It  is  born  partly  of  ignorance,  partly  of  fear.     But 
I  chiefly  it  exists  by  reason  of  the  close  relation  it  bears 
to  life,  and  the  need  of  suffering  humanity  for  some 
intermediary  between  itself  and  that  Supreme  Being 
in  whom  it  has  faith  ;   a  need  which  in  some  form  or 
other  will  doubtless  last  on  so  long  as  mankind  lives, 
and  suffers,  and  longs  for  solace. 
I        And  so,  in  North  Africa,  the  native,  in  "  the  fell 
clutch  of  circimistance,"  desires,  and  seeks  the  relief 
which  perchance  it  may  be  within  the  power  of  one 
possessed  of   miraculous    gifts  to   bestow.      After    a 
journey  of  many  days  of  weary  toiling,  he  sees  before 
I  him  a  great  mountain,  still  to  be  climbed,  and  cries 
t  out  for  some  one  endowed  with  superhuman  powers  to 
remove  it.     When  his  flocks  are  starving  for  want  of 
pasture,  and  his  corn  is  dying  in  a  drought,  in  his  dis- 
1  tress  he  seeks  for  some  earthly,  yet  at  the  same  time, 
miraculous  power  to  cause  the  rain  to  fall.     Or  again  it 
,  may  be,  he  is  stricken  with  some  terrible  disease,  or  is 
I  in  some  danger  that  it  seems  beyond  ordinary  human 
'  skill  to  avert ;  and  once  more  he  wishes  for  an  incar- 
nation of  superhuman  strength  to  succour  him.     These 
benefits,  and  many  others  besides,  he  hopes  to  procure 
1  from  the  haraka  of  the  marabout. 

This  illusive  and  mysterious  quality  is  the  essential 
:  attribute  of  the  marabout.  It  seems  to  be  akin  to  the 
1  power  claimed  by  the  Jewish  prophets,  and  promised 
I  to  the  Apostles — the  power  to  remove  mountains,  and 
I  to  take  up  deadly  things  without  suffering  injury. 
:  It  is  sometimes  hereditary,  or  it  may  be  passed  from 
I  one  to  another  by  initiation.  When  possessed  of  it, 
'  the  marabouts  dread  baraka  being  stolen  from  them, 
and  believe  that  certain  happenings  and  events  may 
cause   it  involuntarily,   and   against   the  will  of  the 

z 


354  TWIXT    SAND    AND    SEA 

possessor,  to  pass  into  another  person ;  nevertheless  it 
has  nothing  whatever  material  about  it.  It  is  a  purely 
spiritual  quality  ;  therefore  indefinable. 

The  marabout  may  be  the  first  of  his  family  to 
become  one,  and  after  him  the  title  may  become  here- 
ditary. The  whole  cult  is  enveloped  in  mystery,  but 
it  seems  that  a  candidate  for  maraboutism  considers 
that  he  has  received  some  kind  of  call.  Then  the 
training  and  initiation,  which  sometimes  lasts  for  years, 
and  which  also  is  shrouded  in  deep  mystery,  begins. 
Its  object  is  the  gaining  by  the  candidate  of  the  gift  of 
baraka,  whereby  the  marabout  is  able  to  bestow  benefits 
upon  his  followers. 

Many  and  various  are  the  means  by  which  these 
benefits  are  obtained.  Actual  physical  contact  with 
the  marabout  is  the  surest  and  most  coveted ;  to  touch 
him  or  even  his  garment.  This  being  impossible, 
**  virtue "  may  proceed  equally  from  some  object 
which  has  been  touched  by  him,  or  from  something 
that  has  come  into  contact  with  him. 

A  blessing  is  obtainable  from  the  act  of  washing  in 
the  water  that  a  marabout  has  bathed  in.  Still  more 
may  this  blessing  be  gained  by  drinking  it.  And  as 
special  properties  have  always  been  thought  to  reside 
in  the  saliva,  so  the  saliva  of  the  marabout  is  accredited 
with  healing  properties  of  an  extraordinary  kind. 

Poverty  and  dependence  upon  almsgiving  have 
alwa3^s  been  distinguishing  marks  of  the  saint,  or  holy 
man.  ''  Provide  neither  gold,  nor  silver,  nor  brass  in 
your  purse,  nor  scrip  for  your  journey  ;  neither  two 
coats,  neither  shoes,  nor  yet  staves  ;  for  the  workman 
is  worthy  of  his  meat."  So  it  was  with  the  Apostles  ; 
so  it  has  been  with  the  monks  and  nuns  of  Christianity, 
and  so  it  continues  to  be  with  the  marabouts  of 
Islamism. 


PROPHETS    OF    ISLAM  355 

And  yet,  in  contradiction,  the  fact  remains  that 
many  of  the  marabouts  are  rich,  and  some  of  them  ex- 
tremely rich.  Especially  this  is  the  case  when  mara- 
boutism  has  been  for  some  time  hereditary.  For  the 
truth  is,  that  when  once  the  reputation  of  a  marabout 
is  established,  no  one  either  cares  or  dares  to  refuse 
him  anything.  At  first  it  may  be  necessary  for  the 
candidate  to  ask  for  what  he  wants,  whether  it  be  bread 
or  couscous,  or  coffee,  or  perhaps  a  few  dates.  Then, 
presently,  a  request  is  no  longer  needful ;  gifts  are 
pressed  upon  the  marabout.  People  are  perfectly 
ready  and  wilHng  to  give  him  things,  in  order  to  re- 
ceive in  return  the  benefits  of  his  haraka. 
I  The  fact  of  its  being  considered  a  great  honour  to 
eat  food  in  company  with  a  marabout  is  often  a  source 
of  riches  to  him.  People  gladly  pay  highly  for  this 
privilege.  Sometimes  they  will  give  fifty  francs  for 
a  share  in  a  meal  that  has  probably  cost  only  one.  By 
this  means  again  they  hope  to  reap  some  measure  of 
the  holy  man's  haraka. 

The   marabouts   are  possessed   of   great  influence 
in  North  Africa,  for  peace  or  otherwise.    The  Turks 
during  their  occupation  of  the  country  recognised  that 
this  was  the  case,  and  adopted  the  policy  of  concilia- 
tion by  granting  them  exemption  from  taxation.     And 
now  the  French  are  beginning  to  see  the  wisdom  of 
the  poHcy,  and  to  reaUse  that  the  power  of  the  mara- 
I  bouts  with  the  people  is  important,  and  one  that  has 
'  to  be  reckoned  with.     Undoubtedly  these  zealots  have 
i  constantly  been  the  means  of  stopping  tribal  warfare 
I  and  brigandage. 

I        For  a  long  time  they  were  the  only  force  amongst 

'  the  natives  against  sheer  brutality.'    They  have  also 

been  the  sole  source  of  instruction  in  the  midst  of  uni- 

^  M.  E.  Doutte. 


356  'TWIXT   SAND   AND    SEA 

versal  ignorance.  But,  upon  the  other  hand,  should 
the  marabouts  desire  to  stir  up  revolt  against  the 
French  occupation  in  North  Africa,  their  influence 
would  be  far-reaching  and  omnipotent.  Their  won- 
derful and  mysterious  power  of  telegraphic  com- 
munication with  each  other  is  a  fact,  though  it  is 
one  that  has  never  been  understood  by  Europeans. 
Conceivably,  it  might  be  a  most  serious  source  of 
danger.  In  the  case  of  a  rising  being  possible 
amongst  the  natives,  it  would  certainly  be  so.  For 
by  means  of  this  secret  telegraphy,  the  movements 
of  the  insurgents  might  be  instantaneously  made 
known  ;  news  of  the  disaffection  would  spread  like 
lightning  throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  the 
country,  right  down  as  far  as  the  Soudan  and 
Egypt.  We  know  that  in  the  latter  country  this 
kind  of  thing  happened  at  the  time  of  the  Mahdi's 
insurrection. 

Quoting  from  the  Reone  Coloniale,  June  1907,  in  his 
interesting  hook,  Across  the  Sahara,  Mons.  Hanns  Vischer 
mentions  two  curious  instances  given  by  Commandant 
Cadel  of  foreknowledge  of  events  gained  by  the  natives. 
Frowning  over  the  oasis  of  Bilna,  situated  350  miles 
from  Lake  Chad,  is  a  dark  and  forbidding  rock  which 
warns  the  inhabitants  of  the  approach  of  a  caravan  by 
singing.  This  sound,  which  is  produced  by  the  blowing 
of  the  wind  through  the  crevices  of  the  torn  rock,  was 
upon  one  occasion  clearly  heard  by  French  officers. 
Upon  October  6th,  says  Commandant  Cadel,  the  rock 
had  spoken  ;  upon  October  8th  the  first  caravan  consist- 
ing of  4851  camels  and  857  men  had  arrived.  The  same 
French  officer  mentions  that  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Ghat  some  large  clouds,  which  the  Tuareks  declare  only 
appear  when  a  large  caravan  is  upon  the  road  from 
Ganet,  were  seen.     Two  days  later  a  special  messenger 


PROPHETS    OF    ISLAM  357 

brought  the  news  that  a  French  expedition  had  arrived 
at  Ganet. 

Largely,  doubtless,  the  mysterious  transmission  of 
knowledge  to  which  I  have  previously  alluded  is 
due  to  a  wonderful  power  of  telepathy  possessed  by 
Orientals  ;  a  gift  gained  and  developed  by  fasting  and 
meditation,  and  concentration  such  as,  except  in  rare 
cases,  the  Western  mind  is  incapable  of,  and  cannot 
understand.  At  the  same  time  the  communion  of  the 
former  with  Nature  appears  to  be  much  closer  and 
deeper  than  ours,  their  knowledge  of  her  working  and 
laws  more  intimate.  Perhaps  some  of  the  conclusions 
arrived  at  by  Westerns  laboriously  through  science 
are  by  Orientals  reached  through  spiritual  insight. 
And  the  observations  of  Commandant  Cadel  mentioned 
by  Mons.  Hanns  Vischer  suggest  an  interesting  field  for 
investigation,  and  possibly  some  further  light  upon  the 
occult  cognisance  of  distant  events. 

As  I  have  said  before,  the  whole  problem  of  the 
marabout  in  North  Africa  remains  a  mystery.  His 
fame  and  the  veneration  accorded  to  him  do  not  end 
with  his  life.  On  the  contrary,  rather,  they  increase 
after  his  death. 

Not  long  ago  a  much-revered  marabout  died  at 
Tunis.  As  the  funeral  procession  passed  through  the 
streets  with  the  body  carried  upon  an  open  bier,  an 
immense  crowd  assembled.  A  specially  large  force 
of  soldiers  was  detailed  to  guard  the  body,  for  much 
excitement  was  anticipated.  But  even  they  were 
unable  to  stem  the  mad  rush  of  the  people,  in 
their  anxiety  to  obtain  some  relic  of  the  dead  man. 
A  hair  from  his  head,  still  better  from  his  beard,  a 
scrap  of  his  clothing — even  a  small  portion  of  the  bier 
upon  which  he  was  carried.  Any  one  of  these  precious 
relics  would  bring  haraka  to  the  fortunate  possessor 


358  'TWIXT    SAND   AND    SEA 

of  it.  The  crowd  was  frantic.  In  spite  of  the  efforts 
of  the  soldiers,  the  body  was  almost  torn  in  pieces. 
The  wooden  bier  was  broken  up  by  the  struggling, 
fighting  people,  and  the  silken  pall  was  rent  to  shreds. 

After  a  marabout's  death,  his  tomb  becomes  a 
marabout.  Miracles  are  worked  there,  prayers  are 
said,  pilgrimages  are  made  to  it.  Every  marabout  has 
his  annual  feast,  when  the  pilgrims  to  his  shrine  bring 
presents  either  to  his  descendants  or  to  the  guardian 
of  his  tomb.  This  post  is  naturally  a  coveted  one. 
The  poor  take  perhaps  a  candle  or  a  handful  of  dates  ; 
the  rich  present  wheat  or  barley.  In  time  of  drought, 
special  pilgrimages  are  organised  either  to  a  living 
marabout  or  to  the  tomb  of  a  dead  one.  For,  as  I 
have  before  said,  a  miraculous  power  over  the  elements 
of  nature  is  above  all  one  of  the  attributes  of  a  saint 
or  a  magician. 

Most  familiar  objects  are  they  in  North  Africa, 
these  tombs  which  have  themselves  become  marabouts. 
Every  village  possesses  one,  even  though  it  be  only  a 
heap  of  stones.  No  matter  how  simple  it  may  be, 
veneration  is  paid  to  it.  Generally  a  Moorish  bath 
establishment  possesses  the  tomb  of  a  marabout,  for 
ablutions  are  always  connected  with  religion.  In 
Tunis  especially  may  be  seen  gaudy  painted  wooden 
coffins  through  the  dim  light  and  steamy  atmosphere, 
with  weird  surroundings  of  half-naked  figures.  The 
painted  wooden  tomb  of  a  specially  revered  marabout 
stands  upon  the  spot  where  he  died  in  the  Souk  at 
Tunis.  When  the  people  can  afford  it,  they  build  a 
kouba  over  a  saint's  grave.  These  small,  square, 
domed  buildings  are  to  be  seen  everywhere.  They 
are  always  very  white,  and  glisten  in  the  sun  with  that 
peculiar  vibratory  light  with  which  in  the  East  white 
buildings  palpitate  under  an  absolutely  blue  sky.    A 


PROPHETS   OF  ISLAM  359 

strange  solemnity  surrounds  these  little  tombs.  As 
one  draws  near  to  them  one  is  sensible  of  the  subtle 
fragrance  of  incense,  that  sweet  savour  which  the 
gods  have  always  loved ;  ^  odours  which  more  than 
any  other  memory  recalls  North  Africa. 

They  are  generally  visible  from  far  off ;  the  spot 
selected  for  the  tomb  of  a  saint  is  always  the  highest 
one  possible.  People  of  all  times  and  all  religions  have 
worshipped  upon  the  high  places.^  Not  infrequently 
the  worship  of  an  earlier  religion  has  been  continued 
upon  the  same  site,  when  a  later  one  has  supplanted 
it.  Upon  the  same  spot  may  be  found  an  accumulation 
of  old  cults,  of  tree  worship,  of  water  worship,  the 
sacrifice  to  the  djinn,  and  the  new  marabout  of  the 
orthodox  Mohammedan  worship  to-day.^ 

^  Fumigation  with  the  smoke  of  incense  from  early  times  was  a 
favourite  accessory  to  sacrifice.  It  seems  probable,  however,  that  the 
religious  value  of  incense  was  originally  independent  of  animal  sacrifice,  for 
frankincense  was  the  gum  of  a  very  holy  species  of  tree  which  was  collected 
with  religious  precautions.  Pliny  says  that  the  right  even  to  see  the  tree 
was  reserved  to  certain  holy  families,  who,  when  engaged  in  harvesting  the 
gum,  had  to  be  ceremonially  clean.  Whether,  therefore,  the  sacred  odour 
was  used  in  unguents,  or  burned  like  an  altar  sacrifice,  it  appears  to  have 
owed  its  value,  like  the  gum  of  the  samora  (acacia)  tree,  to  the  idea  that  it 
was  the  blood  of  an  animate  animal.  Supernatural  life  and  power  reside  in 
the  trees  themselves,  which  are  conceived  as  animate  or  even  rational. 
(Robertson  Smith,  Religion  of  the  Semites,  p.  427.) 

*  "  And  the  people  sacrificed  in  high  places  because  there  was  no  house 
built  unto  the  name  of  the  Lord  until  those  days  "  (i  Kings  iii.  2). 

^  M.  E.  Doutte  mentions  an  instance  of  this  close  to  Tlemcen,  upon 
the  site  of  the  old  marabout  of  Sidi  Ya'goub  at  Tiprisi. 


CHAPTER    V  5 

FOUM    ES    SAHARA 

Biskra,  the  present  terminus  of  the  railway,  is  the 
Mecca  of  the  casual  tourist,  who,  with  little  trouble, 
and  without  wandering  from  the  region  of  large  hotels, 
without,  indeed,  changing  his  train,  may  wish  to  believe 
that  he  has  seen  the  desert.  And  because  at  Biskra 
the  tourist  is  largely  represented,  it  follows  that  the 
*'  guides  "  are  numerous  also.  "  Guides,"  indeed,  there 
are  of  every  description,  pleasant  companions  gene- 
rally ;  as  a  study  of  Oriental  life,  a  varied  experience 
of  them  is  both  interesting  and  amusing. 

There  is  the  guide  who  is  nominally  attached  to 
the  hotel,  whose  role,  by  means  of  annual  divorces, 
appears  to  be  the  providing  of  marriage  ceremonies  for 
the  benefit  of  the  visitors,  while  they  in  their  turn  are 
expected  to  supply  the  two  or  three  pounds  which, 
however  often  given,  always  seem  to  be  still  needed 
before  the  wedding  can  take  place. 

There  is  the  smart,  good-looking,  youthful  guide, 
who  borrows  lustre  from  an  alleged  descent  from  the 
Prophet,  and  is  always  appearing  in  gorgeous  new 
clothes,  obtained,  it  is  whispered,  from  the  shops  for 
the  purchase  of  supposed  "  clients,"  worn  for  a  day, 
and  then  returned  as  unsuitable. 

There  is  the  quiet,  reliable,  studious  young  guide, 

who  is  too  proud  to  ask  for  employment,  and  perhaps 

has  no  need ;   for  he  seems  to  be  a  general  favourite, 

and  to  be  employed  by  the  same  people  when  they 

return  to  Biskra  year  after  year.    Of  his  employers  he 

36a 


FOUM    ES    SAHARA  361 

I  speaks  with  the   greatest  pride   and  admiration,  as 

I  indeed  do  all  the  "  guides." 

I  When  a  card  or  recommendation  is  obtained  it  is 
greatly  treasured,  carried  about  in  a  leather  case,  and 
brought  out  to  be  shown  at  every  opportunity.  "  He 
is  a  very  great  man  in  England,"  they  say,  perhaps,  of 
one  of  their  clients  ;  or  of  another,  "  He  is  a  great 
EngHsh  marabout."     Occasionally  they   are   a  little 

I  supercilious  in  their  remarks,  as,  for  instance,  one  of 
the  Arab  guides  who  had  been  employed  by  an  English 
writer,  whose  rapid  motor  tour  through  the  country 
had  resulted  in  a  book — "  I  know  how  these  books  are 
made ;  I  tell  them  five  words,  and  they  make  ten  pages." 

I        All  this  takes  place  in  the  modern  Biskra  of  the 

!  tourist,  and  the  French  Government,  and  the  Hotel  de 
Ville,  and  European  shops  and  hotels, 

:        The  real  Biskra,  the  ancient  Bescera  and  capital 

'  of  the  Ziban,  the  brown  earthen  village  surrounded  by 
palm  trees  and  enclosed  by  mud  walls,  through  whose 
narrow  streets,  only  wide  enough  for  a  donkey  to  go, 
small  streams  meander  ;  which  was  presided  over  by 
the  Roman  fort,^  and  later  by  the  Turkish  one,  is  a 
distinct  place,  and  a  very  different.  The  ebb  and  flow 
of  native  life,  it  is  true,  has  reached  and  flooded  the 
market-place  built  in  New  Biskra  by  the  French. 
Here  you  may  see  occasionally  a  native  squatting 

'  beside  a  heap  of  queer  brown  objects  like  huge  winged 
grasshoppers,   which   are  locusts.     They  are  cooked, 

:  and  being  sold  to  the  people,  who  pull  off  the  legs  and 

I  wings  and  devour  them  upon  the  spot  in  the  same  way 

I  that  a  European  might  eat  shrimps. 

i        In  a  corner  of  the  market  sometimes  may  be  seen 

I  a  couple  of  old  women,  half  blind  and  hideously  ugly, 

i         ^  Diocletian  secured  the  south  frontier  of  the  Aures  by  a  series  of  forts 
I  or  lines  about  the  year  a.d.  300.     (Mommsen.) 


362  'TWIXT    SAND    AND    SEA 

selling  the  dried  flowers  of  the  acacia  or  mimosa,  mixed 
with  gums  which  are  used  for  incense.  From  them 
also  may  be  bought  for  a  few  pence  delightful  little 
censers  made  of  pottery  in  which  the  sweet-smelling 
stuff  is  burnt  in  the  tombs  of  marabouts,  at  religious 
rites,  and  upon  all  holy  spots.  But  Oriental  life, 
though  it  is  always  interesting,  needs  as  a  setting  and 
background  the  rich  colouring  and  picturesqueness  of 
the  purely  native  souk  or  bazaar,  and  these  are  not  to 
be  found  at  Biskra, 

In  an  open  space  between  the  town  and  the  negro 
village  stands  the  statue  of  Lavigerie,  the  French 
bishop  who  worked  so  hard  in  North  Africa  for  the 
natives  and  the  Arabs.  Beyond,  upon  the  edge  of  the 
Sahara,  is  the  wonderful  garden — wonderful  for  this 
reason,  that  it  is  so  near  the  desert.  Its  splendid 
palms  and  bushy  shrubs  actually  touch  the  arid  waste, 
its  faultlessly  kept  footpaths  are  made  of  sand.  You 
may  stand  in  the  dim  shadow  of  its  trees,  the  palms 
which,  according  to  the  Eastern  proverb,  must  have 
their  feet  in  the  water,  while  their  heads  are  in  the 
fires  of  heaven,  with  the  wilderness  spread  out  before 
your  eyes.  Only  a  few  steps  are  needed  to  bring  you 
into  its  blazing  heat. 

Herein  lies  the  romance  of  the  garden.  It  is  too 
prim,  too  conventional  to  be  really  beautiful,  with  a 
primness  which  is  more  accidental  than  studied  or 
essential.  For  it  is  not  that  of  the  delightful 
old  English  garden  with  its  set  walks  and  formal 
hedges ;  nor  has  its  conventionality  anything  in 
common  with  the  well-considered  grandeur  of  the 
Italian  plaisaunce. 

Some  elements  there  are  which  go  to  the  spoiling 
of  the  garden.  It  is  invaded  by  matter-of-fact,  un- 
imaginative people,  anxious  to  prove  the  identity  of 


FOUM    ES    SAHARA  363 

certain  spots,  and  to  connect  them  with  the  char- 
acters in  a  novel ;  these  meet  you  at  every  turn. 
Vendors  of  carpets  and  of  miscellaneous  wares  dodge 
and  follow  you,  successfully  eluding  all  your  efforts 
to  escape  them,  finally  settling  themselves  on  the 
ground  at  your  feet,  hoping  by  sheer  importunity  to 
drive  you  to  an  undesired  bargain. 

All  this  vulgarises,  though  it  cannot  entirely  de- 
stroy, the  charm  of  the  garden. 

Outside,  and  just  upon  its  fringe,  flows  the  river 
Oued  Biskra.  Its  wide  stony  bed  is  dry  in  the  winter. 
In  its  midst  is  set  a  little  square,  white-domed  build- 
ing, the  tomb  of  the  marabout  Sidi  Zazour,  one  of  the 
most  revered  in  this  part  of  the  Sahara.  The  guardian 
of  the  tomb  is  a  queer,  half-savage  looking  old  man, 
who  is  somewhat  of  a  mystic.  He  goes  home  to  sleep 
every  night  in  the  little  Arab  village  of  M'cid  close 
by.  Most  of  the  day  he  may  be  found  in  the  small 
stone  cell  adjoining  the  sepulchre  inside  the  building. 
Here  he  prays  and  meditates,  and  hopes  himself  per- 
haps to  become  a  marabout  in  time,  or  lies  upon  the 
floor  curled  up  in  his  burnous,  half  or  wholly  asleep. 
Close  by,  in  the  little  funeral  chamber,  that  is  hung 
round  with  great  coloured  lamps  and  silken  flags  and 
pictures  of  Mohammedan  worship,  sleeps  the  mara- 
bout Sidi  Zazour.  His  grave  is  enclosed  by  a  green- 
painted  grill,  and  is  covered  by  a  catafalque,  upon 
which  are  spread,  one  above  another,  a  dozen  gaudy 
palls.  Over  them  all  reposes  the  usual  rosary  formed 
of  a  hundred  great  round  wooden  beads,  used  for 
counting  the  ninety-nine  attributes  of  God,  with  the 
essential  name  of  Allah. 

A  strange  silence  reigns  in  the  solitary  tomb. 
Sometimes  the  old  man,  its  guardian,  says  that  the 
silence  is  broken.     As  he  sits  there  alone  watching, 


364  'TWIXT    SAND    AND    SEA 

the  dead  marabout  speaks  to  him.  When  he  goes  at 
night  to  Hght  the  taper,  he  feels  a  hand  upon  his  arm, 
and  the  marabout  utters  a  weird,  low  cry.  "  I  am  all 
alone,"  he  says ;  "  there  is  no  one  who  understands 
me."  And  the  old  man  clutches  your  arm  with  a  half- 
wild  expression  as  he  tells  you  of  it.  Sometimes  the 
old  guardian  hears  more  voices.  Sidi  Abderahmen 
from  Algiers,  who  can  make  the  journey  in  a  quarter 
of  an  hour,  or  some  other  dead  marabout,  has  come  to 
converse  with  Sidi  Zazour.  "  Are  you  not  afraid  ?  " 
I  ask  the  old  guardian,  "  when  you  hear  the  voices  ?  " 
"  Oh  no,"  he  answers  ;  "  what  is  there  to  be  afraid  of ; 
they  are  all  holy  men — they  will  do  me  no  harm." 
And  the  old  man,  who  is  a  half -mystic,  half-savage 
devotee,  smiles  with  a  smile  of  fierce  satisfaction  as  he 
rolls  himself  up  once  more  in  his  burnous  upon  the 
floor.  He  interested  us  ;  we  wanted  to  hear  more  of 
his  strange  experiences ;  but  he  knew  very  little  French, 
and  was  very  difficult  to  understand  ;  to  talk  much  it 
was  necessary  to  have  an  interpreter  who  spoke  Arabic. 
So  one  day  we  decided  to  go  again  to  visit  the 
old  man  in  the  tomb,  taking  with  us  a  young  Arab 
of  about  eighteen  who  had  sometimes  been  out  with 
us  before.  We  met  him  in  the  souk  in  the  morning  and 
engaged  him  for  the  afternoon.  He  was  to  meet 
us  just  outside  the  hotel.  As  soon  as  the  arrangement 
was  made,  he  asked  for  an  advance  of  one  franc  upon 
his  afternoon  fee.  What  did  he  want  it  for,  we  asked. 
To  this  question  he  gave  the  somewhat  astonishing 
answer — "  To  buy  some  shoes  for  my  mother."  As 
he  had  told  me  before  that  his  mother  lived  some 
distance  off  at  Old  Biskra,  I  questioned  the  likelihood 
of  his  buying  the  shoes  and  taking  them  to  his  mother 
before  we  started  for  the  expedition,  directly  after 
luncheon.     However,  he  declared  that  he  should  cer- 


FOUM    ES    SAHARA  365 

tainly  do  so,  and  went  off  with  the  franc  which  we 
very  unwisely  gave  him. 

He  showed  an  extreme  disincHnation  for  walking 
when  he  arrived  at  the  time  appointed  in  the  afternoon. 
It  was  very  hot,  he  suggested ;  would  we  not  like  to 
take  a  carriage  ?  This  suggestion  was  repeated  two 
or  three  times,  at  intervals  of  about  live  minutes, 
without  the  success  that  he  wished.  We  intended  to 
walk  to  Sidi  Zazour ;  if  it  was  not  too  hot  for  us,  it 
was  certainly  not  too  hot  for  an  Arab  ;  so  we  went 
on,  while  our  young  guide,  who  had  always  before 
been  pleasant  and  communicative,  walked  sulkily  and 
silently  behind. 

The  suspicion  was  unpleasantly  forced  upon  us 
that  certain  hints  given  us  by  another  guide  were  not 
without  reason.  The  franc  that  we  had  advanced 
at  his  request  had,  as  we  might  have  anticipated,  not 
found  its  way  to  the  shoemaker's.  The  boy  had  been 
drinking  absinthe.^ 

The  suspicion  became  a  conviction  when  finally  we 
arrived  at  Sidi  Zazour.  There  was  no  interesting  talk 
with  the  guardian  of  the  tomb  in  store  for  us,  through 
the  interpreter,  that  afternoon.  We  found  the  old  man 
rolled  up  in  his  burnous  half  asleep  upon  the  floor  of 
the  little  cell.  He  seemed  less  inclined  to  be  communi- 
cative than  at  the  time  of  our  last  visit.  The  boy 
was  hopeless.  The  walk  and  the  heat  had  caused 
the  absinthe  by  this  time  to  have  full  effect.     He 

1  This  unfortunate  habit  the  Arabs  have  learnt  from  the  French.  They 
excuse  themselves  for  thus  disobeying  the  Mussulman  religious  command  to 
drink  no  wine  by  saying  that  absinthe  was  not  invented  in  the  time  of  the 
Prophet.  These  are  his  precepts  :  "  O  believers,  surely  wine  and  games 
of  chance  and  statues  and  the  divining  arrows  are  an  abomination  of 
Satan's  work  !  Avoid  them  that  ye  may  prosper.  Only  would  Satan  sow 
hatred  and  strife  among  you  by  wine  and  games  of  chance  and  turn  you 
aside  from  the  remembrance  of  God  and  from  prayer.  Will  ye  not  there- 
fore abstain  from  them  ? " 


366  'TWIXT   SAND    AND    SEA 

likewise  rolled  himself  up  in  his  burnous  and  went 
to  sleep,  though  when  we  roused  him  presently  and 
reprimanded  him  he  denied  the  fact.  He  was  "  only 
meditating,"  he  declared.  It  was  "  good  to  meditate 
in  a  holy  place."  To  our  suggestion  that  we  did  not 
engage  him  for  the  afternoon  and  bring  him  to  Sidi 
Zazour  for  that  purpose  he  made  no  reply.  When 
we  inquired  as  to  the  subject  of  his  meditations,  he 
answered  cheerfully,  "  The  shortness  of  life."  So 
disgustedly  we  left  him  to  pursue  them,  and  the 
strange  things  that  we  might  have  learnt  that  day 
remain  still  locked  up  in  the  bosom  of  the  old  mystic. 

The  tomb  of  Sidi  Zazour  is  a  great  resort  for  sick 
people,  who  desire  to  be  healed  of  their  diseases. 
Many  miracles  are  said  to  be  wrought  there.  It  is 
indeed  a  wonderful  place,  this  old  tomb  where  the 
marabout  lies,  out  in  the  middle  of  the  river-bed. 
For  the  guardian  told  us,  and  the  same  tale  was 
told  in  Biskra  by  a  young  educated  Arab  who  held  a 
post  under  the  French  Government,  that  however  high 
the  river  may  rise,  even  when  it  washes  the  walls  of 
the  little  building,  and  beats  against  them,  it  never 
enters  the  openings  in  the  stone  which  form  the 
windows.  The  gaudy  coverings  of  the  catafalque  are 
not  even  splashed.  This  is  by  the  natives  looked  upon 
as  a  marvellous  miracle.  To  more  sceptical  minds  the 
rounded  back  of  the  building  that  is  set  against  the 
rush  of  the  waters,  and  the  low  protecting  stone  wall 
upon  one  side,  suggest  an  explanation  of  the  mystery. 

This  protection  is  necessary,  for  the  Oued  Biskra 
is  very  strong  when  it  is  in  flood.  Only  a  year  ago  a 
terrible  thing  happened.  The  river  had  come  down, 
bringing  with  it  a  quantity  of  wood,  which,  when  the 
water  had  dried  up,  was  left  upon  its  stony  bed ; 
numbers  of  women  and  children  came  down  to  gather 


FOUM    ES    SAHARA  367 

it,  for  wood  is  a  most  precious  thing  in  the  Httle  villages 
of  the  Sahara.  Suddenly,  whilst  they  were  all  busy 
and  unheeding,  the  river  rose  again  ;  a  great  wave 
came  rushing  down  with  tremendous  force.  In  an 
instant  a  swirhng  torrent  swept  down  the  dry  river 
bed,  and  thirty-one  women  and  children  were  borne 
to  their  death.  But  all  the  time,  in  the  middle  of  the 
rushing  waters,  the  old  marabout  slept  untouched  and 
unharmed  within  his  little  green  raihng. 

Each  marabout  has  his  feast  day,  and  every 
January  there  is  a  great  feast  made  for  Sidi  Zazour. 
For  weeks  beforehand  the  people  go  round  begging 
for  money  wherewith  to  purchase  a  cow  to  be  offered 
as  a  sacrifice  to  the  saint.  The  poor  little  animal, 
one  of  the  pretty  grey  natives,  of  the  breed  so  closely 
resembUng  a  Jersey,  is  led  round  the  villages  by  the 
collectors.     It  is  a  pathetic  sight. 

At  last  the  great  Friday  arrives.  For  once  in  the 
year  the  solitary  life  of  the  old  guardian  of  the  tomb 
is  broken  in  upon.  His  meditations  and  prayers,  and 
doubtless  his  sleep,  are  disturbed.  It  is  a  wonderful 
day  for  him. 

Hundreds  of  people  assemble  in  the  dry  bed  of  the 
river.  The  silent  tomb  is  invaded  by  the  worshippers, 
who  bring  offerings  to  Sidi  Zazour,  couscous  and 
candles,  barley  and  dates.  The  Uttle  grey  cow  is 
slain,  and  its  flesh  eaten  by  the  worshippers.^    It  is  an 

^  This  may  be  a  rain  sacrifice.  Mr.  Foster  Fraser  mentions  a  similar 
rite  which  he  saw  performed  at  Sidi  Okba  upon  the  anniversary  of  the 
Saint's  death  in  September.  A  bull  was  hobbled  and  lying  upon  the  ground. 
A  young  Arab  sharpened  a  knife,  which  he  stuck  into  the  neck  of  the  pros- 
trate beast ;  then  withdrawing  the  knife  he  sharpened  it  again,  and  repeated 
the  horrible  operation  several  times,  each  plunge  of  the  instrument  into  the 
poor  brute's  neck  being  accompanied  by  frenzied  shrieks  of  delight  from  the 
spectators.  Afterwards  the  animal  was  taken  away,  cut  up  and  distributed 
to  the  poor,  while  the  marks  of  the  blood  upon  the  ground  were  carefully 
covered  up. 


368  'TWIXT    SAND   AND    SEA 

act  of  communion  or  joint  participation  with  the 
marabout  in  the  flesh  and  blood  of  the  sacred  victim. 
The  marabout  accepts  the  sacrifice,  and  gives  to  the 
partakers  in  it  prosperity  and  the  benefits  of  his 
haraka. 

There  is  a  great  deal  of  dancing — this  has  generally 
formed  a  part  of  primitive  religious  ceremonies — and 
much  rejoicing.  The  old  guardian  of  the  tomb  makes 
coffee  for  the  worshippers,  accepts  the  offerings  on 
behalf  of  the  marabout,  and  acts  as  host. 

The  scene  is  a  strange  one.  A  pagan  rite  Islam- 
ised ;  the  desire  for  sacrifice  and  communion  with 
a  higher  being  continuing  on  through  the  ages. 
From  time  immemorial  those  wonderful  mountains, 
the  Aures,  have  been  watching  the  same  scenes  of 
sacrifice,  whether  enacted  in  the  worship  of  Baal  or 
in  the  worship  of  Allah.  Evening  after  evening,  the 
peaks  and  valleys  of  the  mountains  have  been  illu- 
minated with  an  unspeakable  glory ;  evening  after 
evening  the  darkness  has  descended,  and  the  secrets 
which  they  seem  to  hide  remain  for  evermore  un- 
revealed  to  man. 

In  all  North  Africa  there  is  nothing  more  beauti- 
ful than  the  sight  of  the  Aures  at  sunset.  Nowhere, 
perhaps,  does  the  departing  sun  touch  the  earth  more 
tenderly,  nowhere  is  its  good-night  kiss  more  exquisite, 
more  lingering,  or  the  darkening  light  so  full  of  yearning 
beauty  and  mystery.  As  the  Hght  dies,  in  the  mar- 
vellous hush  of  the  supreme  moment  when  it  meets 
the  night,  a  soft  pall  of  crumpled  velvet  seems  to  de- 
scend upon  the  mountains,  concealing  their  naked 
peaks  with  its  warm  colour,  covering  the  valleys  with 
the  purple  shadows  of  its  thick  folds. 

The  faces  of  the  little  company  returning  from 
bathing  in  the  healing  waters  of  Hammam  Salahin, 


In  a  Palm  CjArden 


FOUM    ES    SAHARA  369 

or  the  Holy  Baths,  are  set  towards  the  hills,  the  golden 
Hght  is  in  their  eyes,  the  wonderful  silence  wraps  them 
round  as  with  a  garment.     Natives  there  are,  whole 
famiUes  sometimes,  the  women  mounted  upon  small 
donkeys,  the   men  either   riding   behind  or  walking 
beside  the  animals.    The  women  and  girls  of  a  rich 
Arab  family  are  packed  away  inside  a  little  covered 
carriage,  closely  screened  from  view  by  carpets  and 
curtains  which  are  hung  all  round.     **  They  are  well 
hidden,"   remarks   the   head   of    the  family,  with   a 
half -scornful,  half- amused  smile  of  satisfaction.    Then 
he  tucks  the  curtain  down  carefully,  and  proceeds  ta 
climb  up  into  the  front  of  the  carriage  with  the  only 
favoured  child  of  the  family,  his  little  son.     He  pro- 
bably  ignores  it,  for  surely  it  cannot  be  that  he  has  na 
suspicion  of  the  peeping   and  spying  that  goes  on,, 
literally  behind  his  back,  as  his  carriage  passes  the 
little  horse-tram  plying  between  Hammam  es  Salahin 
and  Biskra.     Closely  packed  inside,  it  contains,  be- 
sides  natives,  some  Europeans,  a  glimpse  of  whom  is 
worth  the  risk  of  punishment.    The  temptation,  at  any 
rate,  is  too  great  a  one  for  the  secluded  Arab  women  ta 
resist. 

A  strange  sense  of  mystery  broods  in  the  palm 
gardens.^  Passing  from  the  glare  and  sultry  dryness 
of  the  sandy  road  into  the  moist  shadow  and  the  cool- 
ness within  the  low  mud  walls,  one  becomes  vaguely 
conscious  of  it.  The  monotony  of  the  tall  straight 
trees  is  broken  sometimes  by  groups  of  olives.  Their 
gnarled  and  twisted  trunks  and  pale  tinted  foliage 
I  make  a  delicious  harmony  when  they  blend  with  the 
I  richer  green  and  the  upright  stems  of  the  palms.    The 

j         ^  The  palm  tree  is  the  familiar  symbol  of  Astarte.      Robertson  Smithy 
I   Religion  of  the  Semites,  p.  193.) 

2A 


370  'TWIXT   SAND   AND    SEA 

light  is  dim  and  restful ;  the  sun,  tempered  by  the 
umbrella-hke  tops  of  the  trees,  flickers  through  the 
branches,  making  bright  patches  upon  the  ground. 
Now  and  then  a  dark-skinned  figure  moves  across 
from  the  sunlight  into  the  shadow ;  an  Arab  boy 
tending  a  few  goats,  or  a  young  girl  in  brightly-hued 
garments.  Perhaps  a  little  nigger  will  climb  up  the 
long  fan-Uke  leaves  of  a  young  palm,  and  sliding  down 
again,  grin  for  pure  joy  of  heart,  and  show  his  white 
teeth,  with  a  child-like  desire  for  your  admiration  of 
his  feat. 

The  very  spirit  of  the  little  Sahara  villages  seems 
to  dwell  in  the  palm  gardens.  It  is  an  ancient 
spirit,  and  one  that  has  never  been  Islamised.  Here 
one  can  fancy  still  lingers  the  subtle  atmosphere 
of  a  primitive  nature-worship.  The  great  rugged 
stems  of  the  trees  are  the  pillars  of  a  temple 
not  made  with  hands,  and  their  branches  its  only 
covering. 

The  fertiUsing  of  the  palm  is  an  artificial  process. 
Some  spores  of  the  beautiful  polished  ivory  blossoms 
of  the  male  tree,  when  the  long  sheath  in  which  they 
are  enfolded  has  burst,  are  hung  among  the  branches 
of  the  female  palm,  so  that  the  pollen  falls  upon  the 
flowers,  thus  rendering  them  fruitful.^ 

Sometimes  amongst  the  branches  of  the  trees  you 
may  still  see  suspended  a  bundle  of  whitened  bones,  all 
that  remains  of  a  camel's  skull.  It  was  fastened  there 
when  the  garden  was  first  planted,  as  a  charm  to  bring 
fruitfulness  and  prosperity.-    Often,  in  new  gardens, 

'  It  seems  possible  that  the  symbol  painted  and  carved  upon  so  many  of 
the  houses,  &c.,  in  North  Africa,  and  frequently  found  in  Moorish  arabesques, 
is  really  the  sheath  of  the  male  palm,  as  an  emblem  of  fruitfulness.  ("  Signs 
and  Symbols,"  Fig.  27.) 

^  Amongst  the  Semites  the  magical  use  of  a  dried  head  had  great 
vogue.     (Robertson  Smith.)     C/.  p.  7. 


A  Corner  of  Old  Biskra 


FOUM    ES    SAHARA  371 

the  weird  thing  hangs  intact — survival  of  an  ancient 
faith,  its  original  meaning  now  long  forgotten.^ 

Many  quaint  legends  and  stories  belonging  to  a 
similar  primitive  cult  are  still  told  in  North  Africa, 
handed  down  orally  through  the  ages,  gathering  grains 
from  the  different  stages  of  civilisation  through  which 
they  have  passed,  as  a  rolling  snowball  gathers  snow. 
Now,  as  only  the  learned  are  able  to  read  the  Qu'ran, 
its  all-embracing  covers  are  said  by  the  people  to 
contain  every  legend  which  is  known  to  them.  In 
primitive  times  these  legends  formed  part  of  religion  ; 
vaguely  they  remain  so,  and  the  Jew,  who  has  from 
time  immemorial  been  hated,  and  is  so  still,  generally 
plays  the  part  of  the  villain  in  them. 

The  following  story  is  a  characteristic  one,  and  was 
told  us  by  a  young  Arab  in  most  dramatic  manner. 

One  day  a  Jew  went  out  to  hunt ;  after  pursuing 
for  hours,  and  having  seen  and  killed  nothing,  he  gave 
up  the  chase  and  returned  home  to  dinner.  On  the 
way  he  met  a  gazelle  and  was  going  to  kill  it.  But  in 
old  times  all  the  animals  used  to  talk,  and  the  gazelle 
said,  "  Let  me  first  go  and  say  good-bye  to  my  chil- 
dren." So  she  went  home  and  gave  her  children  suck, 
and  told  them,  "  After  this  I  must  go  and  die."  The 
children  said,  "  We  will  go  with  you."  Then  they  all 
went  to  the  home  of  Sidi  Mohammed  to  take  refuge. 

And  the  Jew  came  there  and  said,  "  Give  me  my 
gazelle."  But  the  Prophet  would  not  give  it  up. 
Then  the  Jew  made  ready  to  loose  his  dog  and  his 
falcon,  in  order  to  kill  the  gazelle.  But  Mohammed 
said  to  them,  ''  If  you  kill  the  gazelle,  I  will  put  you 

^  This  seems  to  be  more  or  less  a  local  custom,  or  at  any  rate  one 
belonging  only  to  certain  districts.  At  Bou  Saada,  an  Arab  village  150 
miles  from  Algiers,  instead  of  hanging  up  the  camel's  skull  the  owner  kills  a 
goat,  or  sometimes  a  cock,  in  the  garden,  and  he  and  all  his  family  feast 
there  upon  the  flesh  of  the  victim. 


372  'TWIXT    SAND   AND   SEA 

into  the  fire."  So  the  dog  and  the  falcon,  when  they 
were  loosed,  were  unable  to  touch  the  gazelle. 

Then  Sidi  AH,  the  Prophet's  nephew,  gave  the  Jew 
a  smack  upon  the  side  of  the  face,  and  he  fell  down 
and  presently  fell  asleep.  And  when  he  was  asleep 
he  dreamed.  And  in  his  dream  he  saw  paradise  and 
the  fire. 

And  after  that  he  turned  Arab,  and  whereas  before 
he  had  not  believed  in  paradise  and  the  fire,  afterwards 
he  beheved.    And  when  he  died  he  went  to  paradise. 


CHAPTER    VI 

A    SHRINE    IN   THE    DESERT 

The  Ziban  ^  are  that  chain  of  oases  which,  extending  to 
the  east  and  west  of  Biskra,  its  capital,  he  at  the  feet 
of  the  Aures  Mountains :  Chetma  with  its  18,000 
palms,  whose  houses  are  taller  than  those  of  any  of  the 
others,  Droh,  Seriana,  and,  in  the  far  distance,  Garta, 
to  the  right  El  Amri  and  FiHash. 

There  is  a  strange  fascination  in  these  little  villages, 
with  their  streams  of  water,  their  palm  gardens,  and 
brown  earthen  houses.  All  of  them  have  these  points 
of  resemblance.  Each  has  its  own  individuality  and 
point  of  difference.  Some  are  quite  tiny  ;  a  few  by 
comparison  are  large.  Most  of  them  are  unknown 
to  history,  and  have  never  been  heard  of  outside  the 
region  of  the  Ziban.  But  one  at  least  has  this  peculi- 
arity, that  it  possesses  a  history,  and  that  its  fame  has 
spread  beyond  North  Africa,  out  into  the  Mohammedan 
world.  For  with  it  is  connected,  and  it  takes  its  name 
from,  one  of  the  first  men  who  tried  to  force  Islamism 
upon  the  Berbers  at  the  point  of  the  sword,  Sidi  Okba. 
In  the  forty-seventh  year  of  the  Hejira  (a.d.  668),  Sidi 
Okba,  the  great  Arab  general,  at  the  head  of  a  small 
body  of  horsemen  went  forth  at  the  bidding  of  the 
Khalif  Moaouia  to  conquer  Africa.  The  Berbers  have 
always  been  a  difficult  race  to  subdue.  The  Romans 
had  taken  two  hundred  years  to  do  it.  But  Sidi  Okba's 
conquest  of  them,  if  only  a  temporary,  was  at  any  rate 
a  rapid  one.     He  must  have  been  a  man  of  extraordi- 

^  Ziban  is  the  plural  of  Zab,  a  village. 
373 


374  'TWIXT   SAND   AND    SEA 

nary  power  and  wonderful,  if  cruel  and  savage,  bravery. 
On  he  went,  carrying  everything  before  him,  forcing 
the  faith  of  the  Prophet  at  the  point  of  the  sword, 
until  at  last  he  reached  Kairouan.  There  he  estab- 
lished his  rule,  founded  a  capital,  and  went  on  in  search 
of  further  conquests. 

But  as  he  was  returning,  he  was  attacked  by  the 
Berbers  of  the  Aures  Mountains  and  killed  near  Biskra. 
His  followers,  seeing  that  defeat  was  inevitable,  broke 
their  swords  and  gave  up  their  lives  with  him.  Long 
afterwards,  when  the  Arabs  had  conquered  North 
Africa,  they  wished  to  build  a  mosque  to  his  memory, 
upon  the  place  where  he  was  killed  ;  but  they  were  not 
sure  of  the  exact  spot.  Legend  says  it  was  revealed 
to  them  in  a  miraculous  manner.  A  stranger  came 
one  day  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  region  and  told  them 
to  plant  some  palm  shoots ;  the  one  which  grew 
would,  he  said,  point  out  the  spot  which  they  desired 
to  know.  And  a  stranger,  as  I  have  said  before,  being 
frequently  looked  upon  as  a  sorcerer,  the  advice  was 
thought  worth  carrying  out.'  Presently  one  of  the 
shoots  began  to  sprout ;  so  there  the  Arabs  erected 
a  mosque  to  the  memory  of  the  great  marauder, 
warlike  disciple  of  the  Prophet.  It  was  the  first 
mosque  built  in  North  Africa  which  still  remains 
standing. 

Upon  the  new  road  made  by  the  French  from 
Biskra  to  Sidi  Okba  upon  the  edge  of  the  Sahara  there 
is  always  much  native  life  moving.  Stretching  out  in 
one  direction  unbroken  to  the  horizon  lies  the  desert, 
in  this  region  stony  and  covered  thickly  with  patches 
of  rough  scrub  and  camel's  salad ;  the  dunes  and  the 
real  sand  only  begin  somewhat  farther  to  the  south 
and  south-east.    In   the   distance,   dotted  here   and 

*  Louis  Creput,  Kairouan^  Ses  Mosquies,  ses  Legendcs. 


At  Sidi  Okba 


A    SHRINE    IN    THE    DESERT  375 

there,  lie  the  httle  villages  of  the  Ziban,  watched  over 
by  the  range  of  the  Aures  Mountains. 

Now  and  then  upon  the  sky-line  black  spots  come 
into  sight,  which  are  camels.  In  the  immense  space 
of  the  desert,  when  there  is  no  possibility  of  com- 
paring the  size  of  one  object  with  another,  the  sense 
of  proportion  is  lost.  Even  from  a  short  distance 
the  camels  look  quite  small,  while  from  afar  off 
apparently  every  detail  of  their  shape  is  clearly  de- 
fined; the  fact  being  that  it  is  very  difficult  to  judge 
distance  at  all  in  the  vast  plain. 

It  is  only  possible  to  realise  the  size  of  these  huge 
animals  when  a  group  of  them  comes  down  towards 
you  upon  the  road.  As  they  pass  with  slow,  padding 
footsteps,  and  necks  outstretched  in  that  peculiar  way 
which,  when  they  are  far  away,  makes  them  resemble 
ostriches,  they  seem  to  dominate  space  instead  of  being 
annihilated  by  it.  They  belong  so  essentially  to  the 
desert,  these  queer  creatures,  which  have  never  really 
been  tamed.^  With  a  curious  air  of  detachment, 
they  submit,  it  is  true,  but  the  submission  is  merely 
a  scornful  acquiescence,  given  just  because  circum- 
stances are  too  strong  for  them.  It  is  too  much 
trouble  to  fight ;  and,  after  all,  what  is  the  use  ?  Their 
whole  bearing  is  expressive  of  this  attitude.  The  eye 
of  the  camel  has  something  of  the  mystery  of  the  desert 
in  its  gaze,  as  though  the  animal  were  possessed  of 
some  strange  knowledge — saw  some  strange  vision. 
There  is  something  of  weary  wonder,  too,  that  the 
world  should  be  so  out  of  joint ;  something  of  long- 
ing for  liberty  and  space.  Now  and  then  this  silent 
acceptance  of  fate  breaks  down.  When  the  hand  of 
man  touches  it,  or  when  it  is  forced  to  kneel  in  order  to 

^  In  the  Qu'ran,  the  institution  of  camels  to  ride  upon  is  mentioned  as 
an  example  of  God's  wisdom  and  kindness  to  men. 


376  'TWIXT   SAND    AND    SEA 

receive  its  load,  then  the  camel  cries  out.  And  of  all 
cries  that  are  uttered  in  the  world,  the  camel's  voices 
the  most  angry  rebellion  and  the  bitterest  despair.  It 
is  full  of  desolation  and  agony.  But  the  cry  is  soon 
over.  Then  once  more  the  great  animal  rises,  takes  up 
its  burden,  and  with  "  patient,  deep  disdain  "  goes  its 
way  upon  the  road. 

At  times  its  endless  journeys  are  interrupted. 
Nature  steps  in  for  a  little  while,  and  the  female  camel 
instead  of  being  the  slave  of  man  becomes  the  centre 
of  an  admiring  circle.  Such  an  occasion  is  being  cele- 
brated in  one  of  the  villages  of  the  Ziban,  at  Chetma. 

It  is  evening,  and  a  caravan  of  Bedouins  has  just 
come  in,  and  is  resting  in  the  little  market-place  after 
the  long  day.  The  animals  have  been  unloaded ; 
three  or  four  women  are  sitting  upon  the  packs  that 
lie  upon  the  ground.  They  are  clad  in  dark  blue  and 
red  garments  of  their  own  dyeing,  and  have  massive 
head-dresses  and  silver  ear-rings.  Two  of  them  have 
small  babies  in  their  arms.  There  is  a  look  of  great 
weariness  in  the  faces  of  the  mothers.  Both  must 
have  been  handsome  once,  but  though  they  are  still 
quite  young,  perhaps  not  more  than  twenty-three, 
they  are  worn,  and  tired,  and  old-looking.  Men  are 
standing  talking,  or  sitting  upon  the  ground  at  rest. 
Children  are  playing  round  about.  It  is  a  peaceful 
scene  and  a  picturesque  one.  The  centre  of  the 
group  is  a  huge  camel  that  is  lying  down,  per- 
fectly motionless,  except  for,  now  and  then,  a  slow 
movement  of  the  head,  when  its  baby,  aged  twenty- 
four  hours,  strays  behind  its  back  and  goes  out  of 
sight. 

The  latter  is  the  queerest  and  most  fascinating 
little  creature  imaginable,  of  a  pale  dove-grey  colour. 
Its  enormously  long  wobbly  legs  support  a  small  body 


A    SHRINE    IN    THE    DESERT  377 

about  the  size  of  that  of  a  very  attenuated  calf ;  its 
tiny  head  is  set  upon  a  neck  that  is  out  of  all  propor- 
tion in  length.  It  shambles  round  amongst  the  Arabs, 
investigating  the  strange  world  and  the  strange  people 
to  which  it  has  been  so  lately  introduced  ;  blundering 
unsteadily  first  up  against  this  person  and  then  against 
that.  When  it  strays  too  far  away,  a  man  will  pick  it 
up  in  his  arms  and  set  it  down  again  beside  its  mother. 
It  is  absolutely  fearless,  for  it  knows  nothing  to  fear. 

The  same  look  is  in  the  eyes  of  the  Arab  woman 
when  she  gazes  down  at  her  baby,  and  in  the  eyes 
of  the  camel  as  it  glances  round  at  its  little  one ;  a 
look  that  seems  to  contain  something  of  hopeless 
resignation,  something  of  divine  pity,  something  of 
shy  wonder  at  having  brought  its  helpless  offspring 
into  such  an  uncomfortable  world. 

As  we  journey  upon  the  road  to  Sidi  Okba  many 
groups  pass  us.  A  Bedouin  family  is  on  the  move. 
The  wife  and  a  boy  are  huddled  up  on  the  back  of  a 
diminutive  donkey,  which  is  driven  by  a  huge  Arab. 
The  animal  trots  bravely  along  despite  its  miserably 
thin  condition.  The  tall  figure,  stick  in  hand,  walk- 
ing behind  is  like  some  implacable  and  relentless 
Fate,  from  which  it  cannot  escape.  Three  or  four 
women  follow  with  that  frightened  walk,  which  is  half 
a  run,  of  the  Arab  women.  Thick  plaits  of  black  wool 
in  semblance  of  hair  hang  over  their  ears.  The  scanty 
skirt  clinging  to  their  spare  forms  accentuates  the 
grace  of  their  figures  and  movements.  But  they 
also  seem  to  be  borne  along  in  the  train  of  that  central 
figure  of  stern  Fate. 

Here  and  there  upon  the  track  are  the  beds  of  little 
streams  with  stony  bottoms.  The  ground  is  covered 
in  places  with  a  white  powder,  that  glitters  like  hoar 
frost,  and  is  saltpetre. 


378  'TWIXT    SAND    AND    SEA 

The  road  stretches  on  between  the  stony  edges 
of  the  desert.  The  dark  patch  which  has  appeared 
so  small  becomes  larger  and  larger,  until  the  fringed 
foliage  of  the  palms  stands  clearly  outlined  against 
the  sky. 

It  is  the  oasis  of  Sidi  Okba,  the  ancient  Roman 
Thabudei. 


The  Moslem  religion,  which  directs  and  regulates 
each  detail  of  everyday  life,  has  had  necessarily  a 
crystallising  effect  upon  the  manners  and  customs  of 
its  followers.  In  so  far  as  civilisation  is  concerned, 
the  life  of  the  people  of  the  desert  is  much  the  same  as 
it  was  during  the  Prophet's  lifetime.  Approaching 
Sidi  Okba  one  is  possessed  with  a  sense  of  being  in 
another  age  than  this,  and  the  sensation  is  not  without 
justification. 

Outside  a  house  at  the  entrance  to  the  village  is 
standing  a  camel  with  a  queer-looking  bundle  lying 
across  its  back.  It  is  the  body  of  a  man  who  has  been 
shot  in  the  desert.  Robbery  doubtless  has  been  the 
motive  for  the  crime.  He  has  just  been  brought  in 
wrapped  up  in  his  own  burnous.  His  head  hangs 
down  over  the  side  of  the  animal.  There  is  not  any 
crowd  ;  no  one  takes  much  notice.  The  event  has 
apparently  created  no  excitement,  and  the  animal, 
with  its  ghastly  burden,  is  standing  quietly  outside  a 
house,  into  which  the  driver  has  gone,  presumably  to 
tell  the  news. 

The  atmosphere  of  Sidi  Okba  and  of  most  of 
the  Arab  villages  is  like  that  of  a  dream,  weird  and 
strange,  the  only  famihar  objects  being  the  pigeons 
that  wheel  round  and  round  and  settle  upon  the  roofs. 

It  is   a  village  of  sand.     You  walk   upon   sand. 


A    SHRINE    IN    THE    DESERT  379 

between  high,  windowless  houses,  built  of  bricks  ^  of 
sunburnt  sand.  Upon  either  side  of  the  narrow 
streets  are  httle  open  stalls  and  shops :  the  baker's 
with  its  piles  of  flat,  round  cakes  of  Arab  bread  ; 
vegetable  stalls  poorly  suppHed  with  scarce  and  pre- 
cious greenstuff.  Here  and  there,  looking  strangely 
out  of  place,  a  few  things  of  European  manufacture 
are  offered  for  sale  :  cotton  shirts,  and  handkerchiefs 
or  pieces  of  brightly  hued  stuff,  chiefly  red  and  orange, 
for  the  Arabs  love  gaudy  colours,  for  making  into 
gandouras  for  the  boys. 

A  butcher's  shop  is  always  an  unsavoury  thing,  but 
more  unpleasant  perhaps  than  any  others  are  those  of 
the  Arab  villages.  For  the  recently  decapitated  heads 
of  the  unfortunate  goats  lie  all  around,  and  the  camel 
meat  displayed  upon  the  small  open  stalls  is  literally 
black  with  flies.  All  day  long  the  owner  of  the  shop 
sits  cross-legged  behind  his  counter,  flicking  them  off 
with  a  flag-shaped  fan  made  of  grass,  or  a  little 
brush  of  palm  twigs.  The  flies  crawl  upon  everything, 
especially  over  the  faces  of  the  children.  The  mothers 
neglect  to  brush  them  off ;  presently  the  skin  becomes 
callous,  and  the  damage  is  done.  The  proportion  in 
the  Arab  villages  of  people  who  have  lost  either  an  eye 
or  are  totally  blind  must  be  about  one  in  three.  It  is 
a  piteous  sight ;  more  so  when  one  thinks  that  in  many 
or  in  most  cases  the  evil  might  have  been  prevented. 
The  glare  and  heat  and  the  sand  play,  of  course,  a 

1  The  sand  has  much  gypsum  in  its  composition,  and  makes  good  sun- 
baked bricks.  The  gypsum  or  selenite  in  the  sand  which  makes  the  bricks 
has  also  another  effect  in  the  Sahara.  Crystallised  by  water,  it  forms  what 
are  called  Sahara  Roses,  or  Roses  of  Sand,  which  are  of  various  sizes  and 
forms,  some  of  them  resembling  a  camellia,  some  a  cluster  of  petals.  They 
are  not  common,  and  are  occasionally  very  beautiful.  The  same  results  of 
crystallisation  are  found  elsewhere,  at  Fontainebleau,  and  nearer  home 
still,  between  Heme  Bay  and  Reculver ;  the  form  of  crystallisation  and 
the  colour  are  different,  but  the  practical  results  the  same. 


38o  'TWIXT   SAND    AND    SEA 

large  part  in  the  mischief  done ;  but  water  is  scarce 
and  valuable,  and  the  neglect  of  cleanliness  and  the 
flies  play  a  larger.  The  religious  ablutions  necessary 
before  prayer  might,  one  thinks,  obviate  a  great  deal 
of  the  evil  amongst  the  boys,  but  these  are  only  begun 
at  an  age  when  it  is  probably  too  late.^ 

As  in  all  the  Arab  villages,  so  at  Sidi  Okba  the  life 
of  the  male  part  of  the  population  is  lived  chiefly  in 
the  cafes  or  the  streets.  Groups  of  men  are  talking, 
and  playing  chess  or  dominoes ;  for  though  gambling 
and  games  of  chance  are  strictly  forbidden  in  the 
Qu'ran,  several  of  the  learned  have  deemed  these 
games  lawful  as  having  a  tendency  to  quicken  the 
understanding.^ 

The  men  of  the  Sahara  have  a  splendid  physique, 
with  strong,  handsome  faces  and  well-cut  features  ; 
and  the  Arab  dress  must  surely  be  the  most  pic- 
turesque and  becoming  upon  the  face  of  the  earth. 
From  a  little  earthen  house  in  Sidi  Okba  a  man  will 
come  out,  throw  his  burnous  round  him  in  the  fashion 
which  is  so  imposing,  and  walk  down  the  sandy  street 
with  the  proud  bearing  and  haughtiness  of  a  king. 
Of  such  savage  grandeur  one  can  imagine  the  great 
Arab  general  himself  to  have  been. 

The  atmosphere  of  solemnity  and  poetry  pervading 
the  mosque  that  has  been  raised  over  his  tomb  is 
savage  also.     Savage  and  defiant  were  Sidi  Okba's 

^  At  Bou  Saada  I  gave  our  boy  guide  some  permanganate  of  potash  for 
washing  his  baby  sister's  eyes,  which  already  showed  signs  of  mischief,  and 
have  since  had  a  grateful  letter  from  him  saying  that  it  had  been  used,  and 
that  the  eyes  were  completely  cured. 

2  "  It  is  abominable  to  play  at  chess,  dice,  or  any  other  game,  for  if  any- 
thing be  staked,  it  is  gambling.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  nothing  be  hazarded, 
it  is  useless  and  vain."  It  has  also  been  said,  "  If  a  man  play  at  chess  for  a 
stake,  it  destroys  the  integrity  of  his  character  ;  but  if  he  do  not  play  for  a 
stake,  the  integrity  of  his  character  is  not  affected."  (Hamilton's  Hiciayak, 
vol.  iv.  p.  122.) 


A    SHRINE    IN    THE    DESERT  381 

words  of  challenge  when  his  course  of  conquest  was 
arrested  by  the  waters  of  the  Atlantic:  "God  of 
Mohammed,  were  I  not  stopped  by  the  waves  of  the 
sea,  I  would  go  into  the  most  distant  countries,  to  carry 
there  the  glory  of  Thy  Name,  to  fight  for  Thy  religion, 
and  to  annihilate  those  who  did  not  believe  in  Thee." 
And  when  the  marauding  zealot  was  at  last  laid  low, 
savage,  with  a  simple  grandeur,  half  defiant  still,  was 
the  inscription  carved  presently,  in  rude  but  beautiful 
Cufic  characters,  upon  one  of  the  pillars  in  his  mosque  : 

"  This  is  the  tomb  of  Okba,  son  of  Nafi. 
May  God  have  mere)'  upon  him." 


There  is  a  fascination  that  never  grows  stale  in  the 
whitewashed  mosques  of  North  Africa  ;  in  the  coolness 
and  repose,  after  the  heat  and  glare  outside,  of  the 
small  buildings ;  the  absence  of  any  jarring  element 
of  sight  or  sound.  Half  obscured  in  the  gloom,  white 
figures  move  softly  over  the  matting  or  carpet ;  stand 
silently  before  the  Mihrah,  the  most  holy  place,  or 
kneel  beside  the  shrine  of  their  saint. 

The  tomb  of  Sidi  Okba  is  hidden  behind  a  screen 
in  the  north-west  corner  of  the  mosque.  Through  the 
small  grille  the  faithful  gaze  in  adoration,  for  the  door 
is  only  thrown  open  upon  certain  days.  The  cata- 
falque is  veiled  with  the  usual  coloured  silk  coverings, 
chiefly  of  red  and  green.  The  small  space  surrounding 
it  is  hung  with  banners  and  quaint  pictures,  a  great 
brown  wooden  rosary  and  the  ostrich  eggs  and 
amulets  brought  as  votive  offerings  by  the  pilgrims. 
Whether  the  tomb  is  empty,  or  whether  it  really  con- 
tains the  body  of  the  fierce  follower  of  the  Prophet, 
is  doubtful.  In  any  case,  numberless  miracles  of 
healing  are  said  to  be  worked  at  the  shrine.    Why 


382  'TWIXT    SAND    AND    SEA 

not  ?    Throughout  the  Ziban  the  faith  of  the  people 
in  the  power  of  their  saint  is  boundless. 

In  all  the  larger  villages  of  North  Africa  there 
are  French  schools.  Otherwise  all  the  teaching, 
amounting  generally  to  instruction  in  reading  and 
writing  verses  of  the  Qu'ran,  centres  round  the 
mosque.  Connected  with  the  mosque  are  native 
schools ;  and  naturally  the  larger  the  mosque,  and 
the  more  important  the  village,  the  more  extensive 
is  the  teaching  carried  on. 

At  Sidi  Okba  in  the  dim  light,  amongst  the  rude 
clay  pillars  imitating  stone  columns,  many  a  class  is 
held.  A  dozen  young  Arabs  are  sitting  round  their 
teacher,  cross-legged  upon  the  floor,  learning  portions 
of  the  Qu'ran.  The  low  buzz  of  their  monotonous 
voices  seems  rather  to  mingle  with  the  silence  than  to 
break  it.  In  the  Mfalla  or  room  adjoining  the  mosque, 
another  class  of  four  young  Kabyles  is  being  held. 
Their  bodies  sway  backwards  and  forwards  rhyth- 
mically as  they  repeat  the  words  of  their  lesson  in 
unison.  Again — it  is  the  Qu'ran;  always,  and  only 
it  is  the  Qu'ran. 

Yet  another  school  there  is,  attached  to  the  mosque 
of  Sidi  Okba,  for  little  boys.  In  the  low-roofed  room 
three  masters  have  been  teaching,  holding  separate 
classes  in  different  corners  of  the  room.  Now  the 
lessons  are  over.  Two  of  the  teachers  have  already 
fallen  asleep,  each  one  lying  upon  the  floor,  wrapped 
round  with  his  burnous.  Two  or  three  small  scholars, 
presumably  the  dunces  or  naughty  ones,  are  still  sit- 
ting cross-legged  upon  the  matting,  laboriously  copy- 
ing lines  of  writing.  The  others  are  all  leaving  ;  one 
by  one  they  bend  down  and  kiss  their  master's  foot 
before  they  go.  A  wag  amongst  them  with  a  wink 
walks  down  the  room,  grinning  and  swaggering,  and 


A   SHRINE    IN    THE    DESERT  383 

twisting  an  imaginary  moustache.  They  all  rush 
down  the  steps  shouting  and  laughing ;  not  quite 
so  boisterously  as  English  boys  in  the  same  circum- 
stances perhaps,  but  with  very  evident  joy  that  their 
lessons  are  finished  for  the  day.  "The  human  boy" 
is  the  same  animal  all  the  world  over. 

As  the  cottages  of  an  English  country  village  nestle 
close  to  their  little  church,  radiating  from  it  as  their 
centre,  and  forming  with  it  a  complete  whole,  so  the 
sun-baked  houses  of  the  Arab  village  cluster  round  their 
mosque.  As  the  steeple  or  tower  of  the  church  is  in 
England,  so  is  the  minaret  of  the  mosque  in  North 
Africa.  It  dominates  the  more  lowly  dwellings  lying 
at  its  feet ;  it  overlooks  and  shadows  them,  lifting 
its  head  higher  and  more  proudly  than  they  lift 
theirs.  These  points  the  English  church  and  the 
Arab  mosque  have  in  common.  Other  points  they 
have  of  variance. 

The  relation  between  the  church  and  the  English 
village  is  much  less  intimate  than  that  which  exists 
between  the  mosque  and  the  Arab  Zab.  The  beau- 
tiful and  often  fine  architecture  of  the  church  has 
Httle  in  common  with  the  thatched  cottage  and  the 
small  brick  and  plaster  houses  dotted  round  about  it. 
The  building  is  so  much  grander,  generally  so  much 
more  ancient,  so  much  more  magnificent  than  the 
poor  ones  in  whose  midst  it  is  set.  It  stands  apart 
and  aloof,  as  might  some  great  personage,  who  can 
only  be  approached  upon  great  occasions;  who,  in 
some  special  hour  of  rejoicing  or  of  sorrow,  mingles 
with  his  humbler  brethren  ;  but  who  bears  little  part 
in  their  everyday  life. 

In  the  Arab  village  this  is  all  different.  The 
mosque  and  small  houses  which  surround  it  are  com- 


384  'TWIXT   SAND   AND    SEA 

posed  of  much  the  same  material.  Generally,  if 
not  always,  they  are  built  of  the  same  sunburnt 
brick  or  sand.  The  mosque,  indeed,  is  larger  and 
whiter  than  the  houses  ;  nearly  always  it  is  whiter. 
The  whole  village  may  be  of  the  same  monotonous 
brown,  and  the  mosque  the  only  white  thing  in  it. 

And  when  you  have  said  this,  you  have  practically  1 
said  everything.  There  is  no  grandeur  of  architecture  ; 
no  special  beauty  of  structure  to  distinguish  it  from 
the  houses.  It  is  just  the  best  and  the  largest  building 
in  the  place.  That  is  all.  There  is  something  that  is 
often  very  touching  in  this.  Every  house  in  a  little 
village  is  made  of  brown  earth  or  mud,  and  the  mosque 
is  made  of  mud  also  ;  only  occasionally  upon  the 
small  square  minaret  there  may  perhaps  be  some  I 
rude  attempt  at  a  pattern  worked  and  moulded  in 
the  clay. 

It  is  always  worth  while  climbing  the  narrow, 
broken  stairway  of  a  minaret  in  North  Africa.  The 
one  at  Sidi  Okba  is  said  to  tremble  visibly  when  the 
name  of  that  ferocious  saint  is  invoked  in  a  special 
form  of  words,  '' Tizaabit-el-ras  Sidi  Okba."  Much 
trembling,  one  thinks,  would  cause  the  tower  to 
fall,  it  is  so  shghtly  built.  But  doubtless,  though 
legend  stops  short  at  relating  the  fact,  the  same  ' 
power  that  causes  it  to  tremble  goes  on  to  steady  it  ' 
again  afterwards.  And  so  it  has  remained  standing 
through  the  centuries. 

A  great  deal  of  the  scene  upon  which  one  is  looking  i 
when  at  last  the  little  gallery  at  the  top  is  reached,  must 
still  be  the  same  as  it  was  when  the  village  was  first 
built.  True,  the  railway  has  come  within  fifteen  miles 
of  Sidi  Okba ;  there  is  even  a  sewing-machine  or  two  in 
the  place — the  people  of  North  Africa  have  taken  kindly 
to  sewing-machines  ;  but  the  Oriental  life  has  changed 


A   SHRINE    IN   THE    DESERT  385 

very  little  through  the  ages.  To  the  followers  of  the 
Qu'ran,  indeed,  there  is  no  room  for  change,  or  perhaps 
any  need  for  it. 

And  so  from  the  windows  at  the  top  of  the  minaret 
you  may  gaze  down  upon  the  flat  chimneyless  roofs  of 
the  houses,  which  look  like  so  many  brown  boxes 
turned  upside  down,  and  watch  the  people  walking 
about  the  sandy  streets  dressed  in  just  the  same  way 
as  they  were  in  the  time  of  the  Prophet.  From  one  of 
the  small  square  doorways  in  Sidi  Okba,  or  in  any 
other  of  the  villages  of  the  Ziban,  Mohammed  himself 
might  come  out,  throw  his  burnous  round  him  with  a 
proud  sweep  of  the  arm,  and  mingle  with  the  crowd 
outside  just  as  does  the  Arab  we  are  watching  from 
the  minaret  to-day.  If  the  Prophet  could  return 
to  earth  again,  and  visit  the  villages  of  North  Africa, 
he  would  feel  quite  at  home  there  ;  the  life  going  on 
would  all  be  quite  familiar  to  him.  For  the  precepts 
of  the  Qu'ran  have  become  crystallised  into  customs. 
The  only  way  in  which  it  seems  possible  for  change  or 
progress  to  arrive,  is  for  religion  and  the  Qu'ran  to  go. 

Meanwhile,  looking  down  from  the  minaret  upon 
the  strange  scene  of  which  the  mosque  of  Sidi  Okba 
is  the  picturesque  centre,  one  gets  slight  outside 
glimpses  of  a  life  whose  fashion  in  many  ways  is  older 
even  than  the  Qu'ran  itself.  Women  and  children 
come  out  of  the  little  mud  dwellings  into  their  small 
enclosed  courtyards,  and  sit  and  spin  or  play.  The 
bright  and  even  gaudy  colours  of  their  garments  make 
ithem  look  like  so  many  gay  butterflies  upon  a  dust- 
jheap.  On  a  flat  roof,  which  is  separated  from  us  by 
ja  monotonous  perspective  of  similar  ones,  a  woman 
I  is  hanging  out  a  red  carpet.  She  has  been  dipping  it 
jwith  a  dye  of  that  pecuHar  dull  bluish-red  that  is  sO' 
'common  in  this  part  of  the  country;  a  colour  which, 

2B 


386  'TWIXT   SAND    AND    SEA 

apart  from  its  surroundings,  is  neither  an  artistic  nor 
a  good  one. 

Upon  another  roof  another  woman  is  walking, 
with  her  baby  in  her  arms.  Tired  of  the  confinement 
of  the  house,  she  has  crept  up  the  narrow  earthen  stair- 
case, that  leads  from  the  dwelling-room  to  the  house- 
top, in  search  doubtless  of  air  and  variety  of  scene. 

Upon  one  side  of  Sidi  Okba  lie  the  everlasting 
hills,  the  Aures  Mountains  ;  upon  the  other  the  desert, 
flat  and  unbroken  for  hundreds  of  miles.  An  un- 
ceasing monotony  of  brown  meets  the  eye  :  brown 
houses,  brown  walls,  brown  streets,  brown  landscape. 
Not  a  flower ;  no  gardens,  no  grass,  no  vegetation,  no 
bushes  or  shrubs  ;  nothing  tender,  nothing  green,  but 
the  thick  fringe  of  palms  lying  between  the  village 
and  the  desert,  and  here  and  there  a  solitary  fig-tree, 
looking  as  though  it  had  lost  its  way.  All  nature, 
and  the  life  that  is  so  intimately  bound  up  with  it,  is 
stern,  harsh,  and  austere. 

The  unfamiliar  atmosphere  of  a  dream  indeed  clings 
to  these  self-sufficient,  self-contained  villages  of  the 
Ziban.  Their  inhabitants  are  born,  amuse  themselves, 
suffer  and  die  upon  the  small  circumscribed  stage  of 
their  lives,  unheeding,  and  apparently  unknowing  that 
there  is  any  other  larger  stage  upon  which  other  people 
are  playing  other  parts.  Standing  upon  the  minaret 
of  the  mosque  at  Sidi  Okba,  you  seem  to  be  received 
into  the  same  atmosphere,  to  be  so  cut  off  and  isolated 
as  to  forget  that  any  other  place  in  the  world  exists, 
or  matters,  or  ever  has  mattered. 

It  is  somewhat  startling  suddenly  to  be  asked 
by  the  young  Arab  at  your  side,  "  What  is  the 
population  of  London  ?  "  He  had  been  talking  a 
little  about  the  mosque,  pointing  out  by  name  the 
other   oases  lying   in   the    distance,   and    answering 


Children  of  the  Desert 


I 


A    SHRINE    IN    THE    DESERT  387 

a  question  or  two.  For  some  little  time  he  had 
taken  no  initiative  in  the  conversation,  but  had  been 
standing  in  contemplative  silence,  looking  all  the  time 
as  though  he  had  walked  out  of  a  coloured  picture  in 
some  Bible  story-book.  Now  he  asks,  "  What  is  the 
population  of  London  ?  "  Finding  it  impossible  to 
follow  the  sequence  of  his  thought,  and  still  wonder- 
ing at  the  why  and  the  wherefore  of  the  unexpected 
irrelevant  question,  we  answer  that  the  population  of 
London  is  six  millions.  There  is  a  moment's  silence  ; 
then — "  Sidi  Okba  is  six  thousand,"  he  says. 

And  now  you  understand  why  he  asked  the  ques- 
tion. He  wanted  to  compare  them — Sidi  Okba  and 
London.  There  is  something,  in  his  tone,  of  disap- 
pointment, mixed  with  the  simplicity  of  the  remark. 
It  makes  one  wish  that  one  had  not  been  obliged  to 
answer  him.     One  feels  sorry. 

He  goes  on  to  say  that  he  has  a  brother  in  New 
York,  and  that  he  thinks  of  going  there  himself  next 
year.  And  somehow,  though  perhaps  it  is  foolish, 
one  is  still  sorry.  What,  one  wonders,  will  be  the  feel- 
ings of  this  young  Arab  on  reaching  New  York  and 
finding  himself  in  the  vortex  of  its  hurrying,  noisy, 
busy  life.  When  the  small  brown  town  that  has  so 
long  formed  the  boundary  of  his  horizon,  and  in  which 
he  feels  such  simple  pride,  has  receded  into  the  dis- 
tance, will  it  be  forgotten  ?  or  will  he  sometimes 
hunger  for  the  life  of  the  desert ;  for  its  silence 
and  its  space  and  its  freedom  ?  Will  he  miss  the 
voice  of  his  father,  calling  the  muezzin  from  the  little 
minaret  day  and  night  with  monotonous  regularity.^ 

'■  The  five  periods  of  prayer  are  :  (i)  From  dawn  to  sunrise  ;  (2)  When 
the  sun  has  begun  to  decline  ;  (3)  Mid-way  between  numbers  two  and  four  ; 
(4)  A  few  minutes  after  sunset ;  (5)  When  the  night  has  closed  in.  Three 
others  are  voluntary:  (i)  When  the  sun  has  well  risen;  (2)  About  il 
o'clock  A.M.  ;  (3)  After  midnight. 


388  'TWIXT   SAND   AND   SEA 

Or  will  the  sound  of  the  trams  and  the  motors,  the 
hurrying  feet,  and  the  roar  of  the  great  city  obhterate 
that  once  familiar  sound  from  his  memory  ?  We 
may  wonder  and  speculate  about  it  all ;  we  do  not 
know.  For  between  our  thoughts  and  the  thoughts 
of  these  children  of  the  desert  there  can  be  but  little 
similarity. 

Amongst  the  younger  generation  of  men  and  boys 
there  is  certainly  a  stirring,  and  longing  for  a  different 
life.  Their  thoughts  are  tending  towards  Europe  and 
civiUsation  ;  they  are  stretching  out  their  hands  in 
yearning  for  the  farther  shore.  What  they  may  feel 
about  it  all  when  they  have  attained  this  desire  remains 
a  problem. 

'*  Still  bent  to  make  some  port,  he  knows  not  where, 
Still  standing  for  some  false  impossible  shore, 
And  sterner  comes  the  roar  of  sea  and  wind, 
And  through  the  deepening  gloom, 
Fainter  and  fainter  wreck  and  helmsman  loom, 
And  he  too  disappears  and  comes  no  more." 

Now  as  we  stand  upon  the  top  of  the  little  minaret 
thinking  about  it  all  and  wondering,  the  father  of  the 
young  Arab  has  climbed  the  narrow  stairway  and  is 
calling  the  prayer  of  the  Maghreb}  From  the  four 
sides  of  the  small  square  tower  goes  forth  the  weird 
cry,  the  cry  that  has  been  sounding  on  through  the 
centuries,  ever  since  it  was  first  uttered  by  Bital,  the 
first  fruits  of  Abyssinia,  who  was  ransomed  by  Abu 
Bakr,  the  father  of  Mohammed's  child-wife,  Ayishah. 

"  La  ilah  ill'allah  wa  Mohammed  rassoul  'ullah " 
(There  is  no  God  but  God,  and  Mohammed  is  His 
Prophet). 

The  sound  dies  away.    The  sun  sinks  over  the 

^  The   prayer  at  sunset.      "  Observe  prayer  at   sunset,   till    the    first 
darkening  of  the  night." 


A    SHRINE    IN    THE    DESERT  389 

Ziban,  and  the  old  man  creeps  down  the  narrow  stair- 
case once  more. 

"  The  callers  to  prayer  may  expect  paradise,  and 
whoever  serves  in  the  office  for  seven  years  shall  be 
saved  from  hell-fire." 

Such  was  the  promise  of  the  Prophet.  It  was  only 
by  an  act  of  special  grace  that  the  number  of  prayers 
was  reduced  to  five.     The  tradition  runs  as  follows  : — 

The  divine  injunctions  for  prayer  were  originally 
fifty  times  a  day,  Mohammed  said :  "  As  I  passed 
Moses  in  heaven  during  my  ascent,  Moses  said  to  me, 
'  What  have  you  been  ordered  ?  '  I  replied,  '  Fifty 
times.'  Then  Moses  said,  ^  Verily  your  people  will 
never  be  able  to  bear  it,  for  I  tried  the  children  of 
Israel  with  fifty  times  a  day,  but  they  could  not 
manage  it.'  Then  I  returned  to  the  Lord  and  asked 
for  some  remission,  and  ten  prayers  were  taken  off. 
Then  I  pleaded  again.  And  ten  more  were  remitted. 
And  so  on  until  they  were  reduced  to  five  times ! 
Then  I  went  to  Moses  and  he  said,  *  And  how  many 
prayers  have  you  been  ordered  ?  '  And  I  replied, 
*  Five.'  And  Moses  said,  *  Verily,  I  tried  the  children 
of  Israel  with  even  five  times,  but  it  did  not  succeed.' 
But  I  said,  *  I  have  asked  until  I  am  quite  ashamed, 
and  I  cannot  ask  again.'  "  ^ 

So  five  it  remains,  though,  judging  by  the  remarks 
made  to  us  upon  the  subject  by  an  Arab,  Moses  was 
not  far  wrong  in  his  estimate  of  the  followers  of  the 
Prophet. 

The  Arab  in  question  was  one  of  our  companions 
during  the  drive  in  the  so-called  diligence  from  Medjez- 
el-Bab  to  Teboursouk,  and  was  a  rich  landed  proprietor 
on  his  way  to  visit  his  property.  He  knew  a  certain 
amount   of   French,    and   was   fairly   communicative 

^  Hughes'  Dictioncxry  of  Islam 


390  'TWIXT    SAND    AND    SEA 

during  the  long  journey.  We  were  speaking  of  the 
mosques  and  the  marabouts  which  we  passed  upon 
the  road,  and  the  Mohammedan  custom  of  praying 
there,  whereupon  he  scornfully  assured  us  that  he  did 
not  follow  it.  He  did  not  agree  with  that  sort  of 
thing ;  he  should  pray  when  he  was  old  (he  was  a 
middle-aged  man).  There  was  time  enough  for  that ; 
for  the  present  he  had  other  things  to  do. 


CHAPTER   VII 

SLA-EL-KEBIRA 

The  English  Christmas  is  near  at  hand,  and  the 
great  Mohammedan  feast  of  Aid-el-Kebir  is  near  also. 
Within  a  few  days,  hundreds  of  sheep  will  be  slain  in 
the  little  villages  lying  upon  the  fringe  of  the  Sahara. 
Every  family  able  to  afford  it  will  kill  and  eat  a  whole 
sheep ;  the  poor  will  be  content  with  a  small  portion 
of  mutton. 

In  many  of  the  sun-baked  houses  a  lamb  is  being 
fattened  for  the  great  day.  It  has  been  petted,  led 
about,  and  fed  from  the  hands  or  pockets,  and  has 
even  slept  in  the  room  of  the  family  that  so  soon  will 
sacrifice  it. 

And  now  in  the  streets  of  Old  Biskra  the  school- 
boys are  going  from  house  to  house  singing  and  asking 
for  gifts.  Their  schoolmaster,  a  bright-faced  little 
man,  sits,  huddled  up  in  his  burnous,  on  a  very  small 
donkey,  waiting  to  see  what  each  mud-house  will  yield. 
The  boys  have  dressed  themselves  up  for  the  occa- 
sion, with  gaudy  turbans  upon  their  heads.  When  they 
receive  a  gift,  a  few  dates  perhaps  or  a  handful  of  barley, 
they  take  it  to  their  master.  The  offerings  are  put  into 
the  panniers  which  hang  over  the  donkey's  sides. 

Farther  down  the  same  narrow  streets  are  groups 
of  girls.  They  also  are  gaily  dressed  up.  Each  one 
wears  some  ornament  of  barbaric  jewellery,  ear-rings 
or  brooch.  Their  song  promises  the  advent  of  a  boy 
baby  to  each  one  who  desires  it,  as  the  reward  for 

generosity  shown  to  themselves. 

391 


392  'TWIXT   SAND    AND    SEA 

Muharram/  the  first  month  in  the  Mohammedan 
year,  has  begun,  and  the  great  day  of  the  feast  draws 
near.-  The  night  before  it  is  as  warm  as  a  summer 
day  in  England.  The  moon  is  full,  and  the  sky  sown 
thick  with  stars.  The  air  is  heavy  with  the  intoxicat- 
ing scent  of  mimosa.^  From  the  scented  silence  under 
the  alley  of  trees  stretching  from  one  end  of  French 
Biskra  to  the  other,  you  pass  into  the  noise  of  the 
town  and  the  Arab  streets.  From  every  house  comes 
the  sound  of  music  and  singing,  that  sound  of  pipes 
and  tom-toms  which  is  so  intimately  bound  up  with 
one's  memories  of  North  Africa.  The  cafes  are  all 
brilliantly  lighted  and  crowded  with  people. 

To  the  right  of  Old  Biskra,  upon  the  road  that  leads 
out  from  the  modern  to  the  old  town,  there  is  a  sandy 
hill,  crowned  by  some  ruins.  Tales  are  told  by  the 
natives  of  treasure  having  been  found  there.  This 
may  or  may  not  be  true.  Treasure  is  always  supposed 
by  the  Arabs  to  have  been  found  in  connection  with 
any  building  which  to  them  is  surrounded  by  mystery. 
The  Byzantines  had  a  fort  here  in  the  fifth  century ; 
upon  the  massive  stones  of  its  base,  which  is  all  that 
now  remains  of  the  Roman  fort,  the  Turks,  when  they 
came  to  North  Africa  in  the  fifteenth  century,  raised 
another  fort.  Now  this  one  also  has  fallen  into  decay. 
And  close  by,  a  little  stone  pulpit  or  mimbar  stands. 
For  upon  this  spot  is  held  the  Sla-el-Kebira,  the  Great 
Prayer  of  the  Mohammedan  feast. 

After  the  beautiful  night  the  day  dawns  bright  and 
clear.    Already,  at  an  early  hour,  many  of  the  wor- 

^  Both  in  pagan  and  Mohammedan  times  it  has  been  held  unlawful  to 
go  to  war  in  this  month. 

*  The  tenth  of  the  month. 

'  The  natives  mix  the  dried  flowers  of  this  tree  with  spices  to  make 
incense.     Cf.  p.  362. 


SLA-EL-KEBIRA  393 

shippers  are  assembled,  and  are  sitting  upon  the 
ground  before  the  mimbar,  or  standing  about  amongst 
the  fallen  stones  of  the  old  fort.  The  sky  is  of  an 
intense  blue,  unflecked  by  the  smallest  cloud.  Be- 
hind, as  you  stand  upon  the  hill,  looking  towards  the 
town,  lie  the  Sahara  and  the  Aures.  At  your  feet  is 
sand ;  below,  the  road  winds  down  into  Biskra,  with 
palms  upon  either  side.  Far  away  upon  the  sky-line 
in  one  direction  are  more  palms.  Dark  patches  stain 
the  monotonous  brown  of  the  desert ;  they  are  the 
oases,  the  villages  from  which  many  of  the  worshippers 
are  coming. 

Group  after  group  mount  the  hill,  singing  as  they 
walk ;  white-robed  men  with  dark  strong  faces.  When 
they  reach  the  summit  they  take  their  places  upon 
the  ground.  Many  are  already  seated.  Now  and  then 
one  amongst  them  arrives  upon  a  small  donkey. 
Generally  they  are  on  foot.  Sometimes,  flitting  about 
in  the  midst  of  the  tall  white  figures  of  the  men, 
are  little  boys  in  bright  orange  or  yellow  or  red  gan- 
douras.  A  huge  Arab  is  leading  five  little  children. 
At  some  distance  off,  some  veiled  women  are  seated. 
They  are  all  old.  The  younger  women  are  exempt 
from  any  necessity  for  prayer ;  those  said  by  their 
husbands  are  sufficient  for  both.  Only  the  old  women 
or  widows  join  in  the  prayer,  and  these  sit  apart  from 
the  men. 

Now  there  is  a  hushed  silence;  an  atmosphere  of 
expectation  grows  amongst  the  hundreds  of  white- 
robed,  hooded  figures  seated  in  long  lines  in  front 
of  the  little  stone  pulpit.  The  marabout  is  coming. 
A  carriage  drives  up  the  hill,  and  a  small  man 
in  white  gets  out  of  it.  He  is  to  conduct  the 
prayer. 

The  great  marabout  of  Biskra  is  one  of  the  here- 


394  'TWIXT    SAND    AND    SEA 

ditary  marabouts  about  whom  I  have  already  spoken. 
They  are  very  rich,  combining  a  worldly  power  with 
the  religious  influence.  Sometimes  the  religious  and 
sometimes  the  worldly  side  predominates. 

With  the  great  marabout  of  Biskra,  the  former 
characteristic  has  the  ascendancy.  As  he  comes  down 
from  his  carriage  and  walks  towards  the  waiting  and 
expectant  crowd,  he  seems  to  diffuse  a  spiritual  atmos- 
phere. As  you  look  at  him  you  love  him.  He  is 
very  aged,  very  feeble,  and  very  small.  He  is  bent 
almost  double,  and  leans  upon  a  stick.  His  face  is 
very  pale ;  it  is  a  beautiful  face,  spiritual,  refined, 
gentle,  and  dignified. 

He  takes  up  his  position  looking  towards  Mecca, 
upon  a  carpet  that  is  spread  for  him  upon  the  ground, 
near  the  mimbar.     And  the  prayer  begins. 

"  Alahou  Akbar — Alahou  Akbar."  The  long  Hues 
of  standing  worshippers  take  up  the  words  after  the 
marabout  with  a  low,  vibrant  murmur.  The  sound 
is  like  the  low  growl  of  distant  thunder.  "  Alahou 
Akbar — Alahou  Akbar."  Again  and  again  the  cry 
goes  up  in  unison,  and  the  worshippers  bow  themselves 
low,  as  the  rushes  on  the  river  bank  bend  before  the 
wind.  Then,  lower  still,  till  their  foreheads  touch 
the  ground  ;  and  once  more  the  rhythmical  cry  rolls 
down  the  long  lines  of  men.  "  Alahou  Akbar."  Still 
kneeling,  each  man  joins  his  hands  together,  touches 
his  face,  and  kisses  his  fingers.     "  Alahou  Akbar."  ^ 

And  now  for  a  moment  there  is  silence.  The  low, 
murmuring  growl  of  the  prayer  has  died  away ;  the 
last  sound  of  it  has  pulsated  down  upon  the  still  morn- 
ing air.    The  marabout  leaves  his  carpet,  and  mounts 

*  The  five  rak'a  or  positions  of  prayer  are:  1st,  giyam,  upright  ;  2nd, 
roukou,  hands  on  knees  ;  3rd,  i'tadal,  upright  ;  4th,  soudjoud,  face  on  earth  ; 
5th,  djoutous,  sitting. 


^J-^- 


Rak'a  Giyam 


1- 


ROUKOU 


soudjoud 
The  Great  Prayer 


SLA-EL-KEBIRA  395 

the  little  stone  pulpit.  As  he  does  so,  the  people 
crowd  and  press  round  him.  For  virtue  will  go  out 
from  him ;  to  kiss  or  to  touch  him  will  bring  haraka  to 
the  person  who  is  fortunate  enough  to  do  either.  The 
marabout  of  Biskra  is  accompanied  by  two  tall  men, 
who  guard  him  lest  the  press  of  the  people  should 
injure  him  as  he  mounts  the  pulpit.  When  he  has 
reached  it  he  hangs  his  handkerchief  over  the  side 
that  the  worshippers  may  touch  it. 

Then  he  preaches  to  them,  and  reads  portions  of 
the  Qu'ran. 

A  sympathetic  electric  thrill  goes  through  the 
crowd;  one  is  conscious  of  the  emotional  touch.  "  It 
is  our  God  that  they  are  praying  to.  He  hears  them." 
This  commonplace  admission  uttered  by  a  Christian 
bystander  and  his  patronising  comment  jar,  and  are 
strangely  out  of  place.  So  also  are  the  stand  cameras, 
which  some  tourists  have  set  up  right  in  front,  and 
within  sight  of  the  worshippers.  One  longs  to  get 
away  from  all  these  people  who  do  their  best  to  make 
the  place  like  a  racecourse,  and  to  destroy  the  poetry 
and  solemnity  of  the  scene. 

For  it  is  a  solemn  scene,  and  an  impressive  and 
emotional  one,  and  one  never  to  be  forgotten.  The 
great  congregation,  the  white-robed,  hooded  men, 
seated  in  hundreds,  almost  in  thousands  upon  the 
ground,  the  cloudless  blue  sky,  the  hush,  the  upturned 
faces  with  concentrated  gaze  ;  and  far  aw^ay,  reaching 
out  it  would  seem  into  infinity,  the  desert.  Then — 
the  small  white  figure  of  the  marabout  in  his  stone 
pulpit.  His  face  is  wonderfully  sweet,  and  filled  with 
rehgious  fervour  and  enthusiasm,  and  quiet  grandeur. 
In  Biskra,  the  character  is  given  to  him  of  peacemaker. 
He  is  said  to  be  a  wise  adviser  in  matrimonial  diffi- 
culties and  differences,  and  to  be  so  good  and  kind, 


396  'TWIXT    SAND    AND   SEA 

that  even  the  children  run  to  him  for  comfort.  One 
can  well  believe  it.  One  wonders  whether  there  can 
be  any  point  of  resemblance  between  the  old  man  and 
his  son,  a  man  of  about  twenty-five,  who  will  in  his 
turn  become  marabout  of  Biskra,  who  has  at  present 
the  decadent,  somewhat  coarse  appearance  of  so  many 
of  the  rich  young  Arabs. 

And  now  it  is  all  finished.  Two  Arabs  go  round 
making  a  collection  amongst  the  worshippers  and  the 
strangers  who  are  present.  This  money  will  be  given 
to  the  poor. 

The  marabout  comes  down  from  the  mimbar. 
The  congregation  crowd  round  to  greet  him,  and  each 
other  ;  to  shake  hands  and  give  the  kiss  of  peace.  It 
is  a  time  of  general  goodwill.  One  cannot  help  wishing 
this  could  be  the  end  of  the  feast,  for  hitherto  all  has 
been  full  of  poetry  and  solemnity  and  grandeur. 

But,  alas,  it  is  only  the  beginning.  The  Sla-el- 
Kebira,  the  Great  Prayer  is  over,  the  second  part  of 
the  Aid-el-Kebir  has  yet  to  come.  The  worshippers 
separate.  Group  after  group  pass  down  the  hill.  The 
ground  that  was  crowded  a  few  minutes  before  be- 
comes empty ;  the  roads  are  dotted  with  white  figures 
making  their  way  home.  Now,  the  sheep  that  has  fed 
almost  at  its  owner's  table  for  months,  or  was  carried 
home  upon  the  back  of  mule  or  donkey  the  evening 
before,  will  be  brought  out.     The  sacrifice  will  begin. 

A  lamb  for  a  house.  It  is  the  old  idea  of  propitia- 
tion by  blood — the  blood  of  an  innocent  victim.  The 
times  of  the  Mussulman  and  the  Jewish  Feasts  are 
different,  but  the  feasts  bear  a  striking  resemblance  to 
each  other  ;  this  is  especially  the  case  with  the  Feast 
of  Sheep,  and  the  Jewish  Passover.  In  the  one  point 
at  least  they  are  identical.  "  They  shall  take  of  the 
blood,  and  strike  it  on  the  two  side-posts,  and  on  the 


SLA-EL-KEBIRA  397 

upper  door-post  of  the  houses  wherein  they  shall  eat 
it."  This  is  done  also  by  the  natives  of  North  Africa 
after  the  slaying  of  the  sheep.  It  is  not  an  invariable 
practice,  because,  as  in  all  religions,  so  in  Islamism, 
some  of  the  followers  are  strict  about  ceremonials, 
others  are  careless.  With  regard  to  this  particular 
custom  it  is  difficult  to  arrive  at  the  truth.  The 
natives  are  reticent  upon  the  subject  when  questioned, 
and  personal  observation  is  not  easy,  because,  when 
the  ceremony  is  observed,  it  is  upon  the  inside  of  the 
door-posts  that  the  blood  is  sprinkled. 

The  same  difficulty  is  experienced  in  finding  out 
much  about  a  still  more  curious  rite  connected  with 
the  sacrifice  of  the  sheep.  Some  of  the  natives  pro- 
fess to  know  nothing  about  the  custom ;  others,  who 
have  possibly  a  right  to  speak,  are  reticent.  We  have 
been  told  by  some  that  the  last  meal  given  to  the 
sheep  just  before  it  is  killed  is  barley,  and  that  after 
the  animal's  death  the  undigested  grain  is  taken  from 
its  stomach,  and  offered  as  food  to  Allah.  This  custom 
is  remarkable,  because  the  Passover  was  always  at  the 
beginning  of  barley  harvest,  when  the  first  fruits  of 
the  harvest  were  offered  to  God. 

One  thing  at  least  the  feasts  of  all  religions  have 
in  common, — the  day  is  one  of  rejoicing.  The  rest 
of  the  day  of  the  Aid-el-Kebir  is  observed  as  a 
general  holiday.  Every  one  puts  on  new  clothes. 
It  is  a  time  of  merry-making  and  gaiety,  for  the  chil- 
dren as  well  as  for  the  grown-up  people.  The  cafes 
are  crowded,  and  the  town  is  noisy  with  the  sound 
of  Oriental  music,  the  beating  of  tom-toms  and  the 
weird,  compelling  music  of  the  pipes.  The  children 
come  in  for  their  share  of  the  fun  and  are  taken  up  and 
down,  and  round  the  village  for  a  penny,  in  omnibuses 
hired  for  the  purpose. 


CHAPTER    VIII 

TOLGA 

People  whose  experience  of  camel-riding  has  been 
gained  in  Egypt  will  find  the  performance  a  very 
different  thing  in  North  Africa.  In  Egypt,  camel- 
riding  by  Europeans  is  taken  as  a  matter  of  course, 
and  it  is  provided  for — the  animals  are  furnished  with 
comfortable  saddles.  In  North  Africa  the  number  of 
visitors  who  either  desire  or  find  it  necessary  to  ride 
camels  is  extremely  small.  Those,  therefore,  who  wish 
to  do  so  must  take  things  as  they  find  them,  and  not 
expect  to  find  any  arrangements  made  for  their  comfort. 
Instead  of  the  easy  saddle  of  Egypt,  in  North  Africa 
there  is  probably  only  a  pack  to  sit  upon.  Instead  of 
the  camel  that  has  been  properly  trained  for  European 
riding,  the  traveller  has  to  put  up  with  the  ordinary 
animal  belonging  to  a  caravan. 

Yet,  after  all,  it  is  worth  while,  for  no  amount  of 
discomfort,  and  no  number  of  difficulties  to  be  over- 
come, can  lessen  the  wonders  of  the  desert.  When 
you  have  mastered  the  art  of  mounting  the  groaning, 
grunting,  refractory  creature  ;  when  your  bones  have 
grown  accustomed  to  the  hardness  of  your  seat ;  and 
your  body  has  learned  to  sway  with  the  strange  move- 
ments of  the  creature,  then  you  can  settle  down  to 
drink  in  the  marvellous  charm,  and  learn  something 
of  the  spirit  of  the  Sahara. 

The  murmur  of  living,  the  stir  of  existence,  the 
hoarse  cries  of  the  market  at  Biskra  die  away  into  the 

distance.    The  scattered  groups  of  people  whom  you 

398 


1 


TOLGA  399 

overtake  upon  the  road  near  the  village  become  fewer. 
Presently  the  palm-trees  of  the  oasis  are  left  behind, 
and  the  distant  ones  of  Chetma  and  Filiash  grow  more 
distant  still. 

To  the  right  are  mountains.  All  around  is  a  sandy, 
stony  waste,  sprinkled  with  scrubby  bushes,  tufts  of 
fennel,  and  bunches  of  camel's  salad.  And  stretch- 
ing far  away  beyond  the  horizon  are  the  countless 
miles  of  the  great  desert,  with  the  sand  dunes  of 
Oumache  just  visible  enough  to  give  you  a  glimpse 
of  what  real  sand  can  be.  Tolga,  the  Arab  Zab  or 
village,  which,  with  the  surrounding  oases  in  this 
part  of  the  Sahara,  gives  the  district  the  name  of 
the  Ziban,  lies  twenty-five  miles  ahead.  This  is 
the  goal  of  our  journey.  And  a  long  day's  work  is 
before  us. 

The  pace  of  our  caravan  is  determined  by  the 
camels,  whose  queer  ship-like  rolling  movements  cover 
the  distance  of  only  two  miles  an  hour.  The  mules, 
nothing  loth,  accommodate  their  steps  to  this,  gene- 
rally going  either  a  little  in  front  or  lagging  a  few 
yards  behind,  for  in  common  with  horses  they  have 
an  extraordinary  dislike  to  the  near  proximity  of 
camels. 

The  men  in  charge  of  the  animals  walk  beside  them  ; 
the  guide  rides  a  small  donkey,  and  is  furnished  with  a 
pistol.  His  brother,  a  handsome  young  Arab  of  about 
twenty-four,  carries  a  long-barrelled  gun.  These  guns 
are  in  general  use  among  the  natives  of  the  Sahara. 
Doubtless,  besides  their  use  for  the  chase,  they  are 
sometimes  necessary  in  case  of  an  attack  for  the  pur- 
pose of  robbery.  Failing  a  gun,  the  native  carries  a 
knife  in  a  rough  wooden  sheath,  or  a  heavy  club-like 
stick,  studded  with  nails,  in  size  and  weight  something 
like  a  Penang  lawyer. 


400  'TWIXT   SAND   AND   SEA 

But  except  occasionally,  in  cases  of  famine,  the 
traveller  upon  the  Tolga  road  is  safe  enough-  In  times 
of  actual  distress  for  food,  the  natives  sometimes  get 
desperate.  The  diligence,  a  clumsy,  slow-travelling 
cart  which  takes  the  mail,  and  carries  passengers, 
has  been  attacked  during  a  season  of  scarcity.  The 
people  of  the  Sahara  have  so  little  to  live  upon,  and 
for  that  little  are  so  absolutely  dependent  upon  the 
earth,  and  what  it  will  yield,  that  a  bad  season  and 
failure  of  the  all-important  former  and  latter  rain 
simply  spell  starvation. 

A  pathetic  little  drama,  showing  what  hunger  can 
really  mean,  was  acted  before  our  eyes  during  the 
journey  to  Tolga. 

Our  caravan  had  halted  for  lunch  near  a  small  cafe 
or  rest-house  just  off  the  track,  built  for  the  French 
soldiers,  when  they  pass  over  the  desert.  Here  was 
water  for  the  animals ;  here  the  Arabs  could  obtain 
coffee.  The  morning  had  been  long,  we  had  started 
early,  and  were  quite  ready  for  food. 

Just  as  we  had  finished,  and  when  there  was  nothing 
left  but  a  few  scraps,  an  emaciated  cat  crept  round 
from  behind  the  hut.  We  gave  it  a  chicken  bone, 
which  it  pounced  upon  joyfully.  Instantly,  a  still 
more  starved-looking  dog,  who  had  been  watching  us 
from  a  distance,  not  being  able  yet  to  make  up  its 
mind  whether  we  were  really  to  be  treated  as  friends, 
dashed  forward  and  seized  the  bone  from  the  cat. 
The  next  moment  an  Arab  who  was  passing,  and  who, 
unnoticed  by  us,  had  also  been  watching,  rushed  at 
the  dog,  took  the  bone  actually  out  of  its  mouth,  and 
began  ravenously  gnawing  it  himself. 

To  such  terrible  lengths  can  hunger  and  starvation 
go  in  the  Sahara.  As  this  state  of  things  is  the  result 
of  drought,  and  the   absence  of  rain,  what  wonder 


TOLGA  401 

that  the  miraculous  power  of  bringing  the  blessing 
is  one  of  the  attributes  with  which  the  marabout  is 
most  frequently  credited. 

One  of  our  guides  is  about  to  be  married.     He  has 

tired  of  his  first  wife,  who  had  annoyed  him  by  her 

habit  of  giving  some  of  the  money  that  he  allowed  her, 

to  her  relations.     So  he  had  divorced  her,  according 

to  custom,  by  the  payment  of  six  francs  to  the  Kadi 

of  the  village.     He  has  waited  the  prescribed  time, 

which  in  his  case  happens  to  be  a  very  short  one. 

The  law  decrees  that  a  man  may  not  divorce  his  wife 

and  marry  again  during  the  same  year.     So  if  the 

1!  divorce  can  be  arranged  to  take  place  in  December, 

I  the  re-marriage  may  be  in  January. 

!       As  they  walk  beside  the  camels  of  our  caravan, 

;the  Arabs  practise  the  weird,  barbaric  music  of  the 

(marriage  song.    A  line  or  verse  is  sung  by  the  pro- 

iSpective  bridegroom,  which  is  answered  or  followed 

by  his  friends   and   relations  in  unison.    This   goes 

on,  over  and  over  again,  in  endless  repetition.     The 

I  half-melancholy  music,  punctuated  by  the  crack  of 

gun  and  pistol  shots,  is  in  keeping  with  the  scene. 

The   minor   chords   of   it   belong   to   the   mysterious 

harmony  of  the  half-savage  native  life.     But  when  it 

has  continued  for  almost  an  hour  without  cessation, 

the  monotony  of  the  sounds  at  last  grows  to  be  almost 

;unbearable.     One  welcomes  something  else  that  may 

possibly  occupy  the  thoughts  and  the  voices  of  the 

;  Arabs. 

j  And  presently  the  relief  comes,  for  a  wonderful  echo 
blaims  their  attention.  The  men  shout  and  whistle, 
land  fire  off  guns  to  scare  perhaps  the  mocking  spirit 
who  is  answering  them.  For  the  firing  of  guns  is 
thought  to  drive  away  the  demons.    Over  and  over 

2  C 


402  'TWIXT    SAND    AND    SEA 

again  from  the  distant  Aures  Mountains  the  sound 
comes  back  with  perfect  and  unusual  repetition. 

A  few  moments  later  there  is  another  illusion,  and 
one  which  might  well  fill  the  primitive  mind  first  with 
expectation  and  then  with  awe.  In  the  misty  dis- 
tance to  the  left  of  our  pathway,  there  is  a  vision  of 
water,  with  palm-trees  growing  near  it ;  cool,  shining, 
beautiful  water,  like  a  lake  or  a  river  with  flat  banks. 
It  looks  so  clear,  and  distinct,  so  altogether  delightful, 
that  after  a  long  journey  across  the  desert,  one  can 
imagine  how  the  tired  camels  would  long  to  turn  aside 
and  press  on  towards  it.  The  nearer  we  approached, 
the  farther  it  seemed  to  recede  ;  until  at  last,  when  we 
were  upon  a  line  with  the  place  where  it  had  seemed 
to  be,  the  beautiful  mirage  vanished  altogether. 

It  is  drawing  towards  evening.  A  falcon  crosses 
our  pathway  seeking  its  rest  in  the  mountains.  A 
countless  number  of  small  birds  are  gathered  together 
in  a  balloon-like  cloud.  The  dark  faintly  outlined 
form  spreads  out,  draws  together  again,  and  floats! 
away  into  the  pale  light  of  the  sunset.  Right  across 
the  saffron  sky  a  pink  cloud  lies  outstretched  like  a 
rosy  wing.  As  the  light  dies  in  the  west,  the  moon 
rises  at  our  backs,  appearing  slowly  from  behind  the 
dark  mountains,  until  gradually,  like  a  great  silver 
globe,  it  sails  fully  into  sight.  The  shadows  lengthen 
out,  and  lie  black  in  the  moonlight  over  the  sand. 

The  camels  still  move  on  slowly  with  rhythmical 
swinging  gait.  The  mules  either  go  just  ahead  or 
follow  them.  The  singing  has  begun  again — that 
monotonous  cadence  of  the  marriage  song  so  like 
a  Gregorian  chant.  All  through  the  long  hours  of 
the  day  nothing  seems  to  have  changed  or  moved, 
excepting  only  the  sun.  But  now  there  are  palms 
outlined  against  the  sky,  the  sure  sign  of  a  village 


TOLGA  403 

in  the  Ziban  of  the  Sahara.     In  the  almost  departed 
light    a    httle    wayside   cemetery   is    just    visible — a 
few  mounds   of   sand   and    sunburnt   bricks.      There 
is  nothing  to  enclose  the  spot  ;    the  graves   mingle 
untouched  and  unmolested  with  the  sand  of  the  desert. 
Now  the  oasis  is  close  at  hand.     The  guide  has  rid- 
den on  to  give  notice  of  our  approach.     In  the  dark- 
ness no  friendly  lights  from  the   houses  are  visible, 
shining  to  mark  the  presence  of  habitations  as  in  the 
English  village.     There  is  a  total  absence  of  windows  on 
the  outside  of  the  native  houses.     The  only  lights  that 
stream  out  into  the  narrow  streets  of  Tolga,  are  from 
the  doors  of  the  little  Moorish  cafes  and  the  windows 
I  of  the  small  French  hotel.     The  Hotel  des  Touristes 
I  was  a  blemish  in  the  picture,  but  it  was  one  which  we 
\  accepted  in  a  spirit  of  resignation,  as  it  enabled  us  to 
;  sleep  the  night  in  peace  in  this  little  out-of-the-way 
,  Arab  place. 

The  host  spoke  to  us  of  "  the  season."     Upon  being 
;  asked,  "  When  was  that  ?  "  he  answered,  "  Now." 
'        There  was  distinct  pathos  in  the  statement,  we  our- 
I  selves  at  that  moment  being  the  only  guests  in  the  hotel. 
Upon  this  point,  however,  we  felt  a  selfish  and  unreason- 
ing gladness.     But  it  was  difficult  to  believe  that  three 
or  four  visitors  could  constitute  a  "  season,"  any  more 
than   the   proverbial   swallow   can   make   a  summer. 
Hotel  des  Touristes — the  name   alone   had  filled  us 
'  with  apprehension  ;  were  the  name  borne  out  in  fact, 
'  the  charm  of  Tolga  would  practically  have  vanished, 
,  for   at   present   the   people   are   unspoilt ;    they   are 
!  friendly  and  hospitable,  and  have  not  learnt  to  look 
;  upon  a  stranger  as  their  natural  prey.     The  children 
I  do  not  beg.     One  is  free  from  the  annoyance  of  being 
pestered   for    "  soudi,"  to   which   one  is   continually 
;  subjected  at  Biskra. 


404  'TWIXT   SAND   AND    SEA 

The  European  in  Tolga  is  an  anomaly,  and  the 
prosaic  garments  of  civilisation  are  a  terrible  blot  upon 
the  picture.  Should  you  chance  to  meet  a  figure  so 
clothed  in  Tolga,  this  truth  is  forcibly  borne  in  upon 
you,  though  possibly  the  painfulness  of  it  may  be  tem- 
pered by  the  fact  of  his  being  an  Englishman,  and  the 
thought  that  you  yourself  form  equally  another  blot. 

But  such  trifles  as  these  are  forgotten,  when  pre- 
sently you  stand  in  the  moonlight  upon  the  "  balcony  " 
of  the  little  hotel,  and  look  down  over  the  fiat-roofed 
Arab  village  lying  wrapt  in  the  mysterious  death-hke 
silence  of  the  desert.  Not  a  human  being  moves  in 
the  quiet  streets.  There  is  no  sound  but  the  barking 
of  dogs,  or  perhaps  far  off  the  sweet  melancholy  music 
of  a  pipe.  Great  groups  of  palm-trees  are  massed 
darkly  against  the  sky.  Tolga  is  set  in  a  forest  of 
palms.  In  the  distance,  above  the  trees,  rise  the 
mountains,  and  stretching  out  into  apparent  infinity 
is  the  desert. 

For  a  few  hours  Tolga  sleeps  ;  but  it  is  only  for  a 
few  hours.  The  time  "  between  the  twilights  "  is  very 
short.  At  sunrise  once  more  the  people  will  come  out 
from  the  brown  houses ;  some  to  pursue  their  simple 
occupations,  some  to  tramp  off  across  the  desert 
to  a  distant  village,  some  just  to  lie  down  and  go  to 
sleep  again  outside  in  the  shade.  The  flies,  too,  will 
wake  up  once  more,  and  crawl  over  everything.  And 
the  daily  life  of  the  village  will  begin,  and  continue  all 
over  again,  just  as  it  has  begun  and  continued  every 
morning  for  centuries. 

Upon  the  outskirts  of  Tolga  an  artesian  well  has 
been  sunk.  An  Arab  found  the  water  by  means  of 
the  divining  rod,  and,  having  found  it,  offered  to  sell 
the  precious  secret  for  60,000  francs.    The  local  Kadi, 


TOLGA 


TOLGA  405 

being  possessed  of  great  riches,  and  having  in  addition 
a  certain  amount  of  European  scientific  knowledge, 
paid  the  money,  and  caused  the  well  to  be  sunk. 
He  then  gave  half  the  water  to  the  village  in  exchange 
for  a  large  tract  of  land,  which  he  is  now  developing 
and  planting.  The  stream  is  turned  alternately  upon 
his  ground  and  towards  the  village. 

A  great  fountain  of  crystal  ice-cold  water  bubbles 
up  from  the  well,  rises  into  the  air,  falls,  and  runs  down 
into  the  trenches.  A  couple  of  Arab  children  are  sit- 
ting by  the  fountain  dabbling  and  splashing  in  it  in 
the  way  that  all  children  love.  It  is  Christmas  time, 
but  the  heat  of  the  sun  is  so  great  that  one  would 
gladly  seek  the  shade  if  there  happened  to  be  any. 
During  the  summer  in  Tolga  the  heat  is  so  intense, 
that  all  the  natives  who  are  able,  go  away  into  the 
mountains.  Only  the  poorest  remain  in  the  village 
all  the  year  round  and  sleep  in  the  little  shelters 
upon  the  roofs.  To  these  people  this  fountain  of 
water  must  be  of  more  importance  than  everything 
else  in  the  world. 

Within  the  reach  of  the  water  the  land  is  green 
and  fruitful.  Corn  and  beans,  and  young  palm-trees, 
are  flourishing.  Just  beyond  lies  the  desert ;  the 
stony  and  arid  waste.  The  contrast  is  extraordinary 
and  definitely  marked.  As  one  stood  within  that 
small  green  enclosure,  listening  to  the  delicious  gurgle 
of  the  fountain,  one  realised  the  beauty  and  the  value 
of  water  as  one  had  never  done  before.  Upon  the 
great  Sahara  water  is  not  something  to  be  taken 
merely  as  a  matter  of  course,  but  a  rare  and  precious 
thing,  even  a  sacred  one.^ 

*  "Then  Israel  sang  this  song,  Spring  up,  O  well,  sing  ye  unto  it  :  the 
princes  digged  the  well,  the  nobles  of  the  people  digged  it,  by  the  direction 
of  the  lawgiver,  with  their  slaves  "  (Num.  xxi.  17,  18). 


406  'TWIXT   SAND   AND    SEA 

It  has  always  been  so  in  the  East.  The  fountain 
is  treated  as  a  Hving  thing  ;  those  properties  of  its 
water  which  we  call  natural  are  regarded  as  manifesta- 
tions of  a  Divine  life,  and  the  source  itself  is  honoured 
as  a  Divine  being. ^ 

There  are  evidences  of  the  Roman  occupation  at 
Tolga.  Many  of  the  sunburnt  brick  or  earthen  houses 
of  the  natives  are  raised  upon  splendidly  laid  and  well- 
cut  stones,  sometimes  of  five  or  six  feet  long,  and  two 
feet  deep,  while  close  to  the  mosque,  the  remains  of  a 
fortress  may  be  traced.  Concerning  these  remains 
many  fabulous  tales  have  been  invented  by  the  Arabs, 
the  innocent  credulity  of  some  of  them  being  quite 
enchanting. 

A  cleft  in  the  side-post  of  an  old  stone  gateway, 
obviously  the  slot  in  which  the  gate  or  door  was  hung, 
is  pointed  out  with  great  pride.  It  is  said  to  have 
been  cut  by  a  single  blow  from  the  sword  of  Sidi 
Abdullah,  who,  legend  relates,  led  the  Arabs  against 
the  invasion  of  the  Byzantine  king.  A  blow  from  the 
same  mighty  sword  is  said  to  have  cleft  the  great 
gorge  of  El  Kantara,  near  Biskra,  in  order  that  the 
Arab  army  might  pass  safely  through. 

Over  an  arched  gateway  at  Tolga  there  is  a  hole  in 
the  wall  clearly  intended  to  carry  a  halter  or  rope  for 
tethering  a  horse.  It  exactly  resembles  the  numerous 
holes  made  for  that  purpose  existing  in  what  was  once 
the  refectory  of  the  Tebessa  monastery.^  We  were 
told  quite  seriously  at  Tolga,  that  the  soldiers  of  the 
Arab  army  put  up  their  hands  as  they  passed  under 
the  low  doorway,  and  thus  the  hole  was  made  in  the 
stone  arch. 

Many  wonderful  tales  and  legends  cluster  round 

^  Robertson  Smith,  Religion  of  the  Semites,  p.  135. 
^   Vide  p.  230. 


TOLGA  407 

the  names  of  Sidi  Abdullah  and  of  Sidi  Ali,  the  cousin 
of  the  Prophet  who  married  his  daughter  Fatimah. 
Sidi  Abdullah  is  for  some  reason  greatly  rever- 
enced at  Tolga.  I  mentioned  them  both  to  a  native 
of  the  place.  Sidi  Abdullah  he  spoke  of  with  great 
pride,  and  seemed  to  think  that  he  had  been  at  Tolga. 
But  "  Sidi  Ali  never  was  here,"  he  said. 

Both  Sidi  Abdullah  and  Sidi  Ali  are  frequently  the 
heroes  of  the  quaint,  semi-sacred,  coloured  pictures 
which  adorn  the  Moorish  cafes,  the  houses  of  rich 
Mohammedans,  and  occasionally  even  mosques  and 
marabouts.  Some  of  these  pictures  are  cheap  repro- 
ductions "  made  in  Germany,"  presumably  of  quaint 
originals,  and  are  extremely  interesting  as  instances  of 
primitive  art.  Others  are  hand-painted  with  great 
care  and  patient  labour.  These  latter  are  generally 
executed  by  Turks,  and  are  brought  by  the  pilgrims 
from  Mecca,  and  are  difficult  to  find.  We  succeeded 
in  obtaining  possession  of  two,  one  of  which  is  repro- 
duced.^ We  also  saw  a  very  interesting  hand-painted 
specimen  in  the  house  of  the  great  marabout  of  Tolga, 
to  whom  I  have  already  alluded. 

His  son  came  to  call  upon  us,  and  invited  us  to  have 
coffee  and  left  his  father's  card,  a  European  piece 
of  pasteboard,  bearing  the  name  of  Abdelmajid  ben 
Cheick  Sidi  Ali  ben  Amor,  We  accepted  the  invitation, 
and  in  the  afternoon  went  down  the  narrow  brown  street 
of  the  village  to  the  marabout's  house,  which  adjoined 
the  mosque  and  zaouia.  A  doorway  so  low  that  you 
must  stoop  to  enter  it,  led  down  a  narrow  passage  into 
the  courtyard  adjoining  the  house.  In  this  courtyard 
there  was  a  large  sheep.     It  belonged  to  the  marabout's 

'  Four  Perfect  Khalifahs — Ali,  Othman,  Omar,  Abou  Bekr.  Hassan, 
son  of  Ali,  the  small  figure,  was  ofifered  the  Khalifate,  but  refused  it,  and 
for  this  reason  is  depicted  standing  by  his  horse  instead  of  being  mounted. 


4o8  TWIXT   SAND   AND   SEA 

little  grandson,  and  was  quite  tame.  Its  ears  were 
hung  with  numbers  of  small  brass  chains ;  tassels  of 
coloured  wool  adorned  its  fleece,  which  was  stained 
with  henna.  It  was  a  queer-looking  object.  Some 
steps  upon  the  left  of  the  courtyard  led  up  to  a  small 
room.    This  was  the  office  or  bureau  of  the  marabout. 

The  room  was  curious  only  because  of  the  anoma- 
lous description  of  its  furniture  and  ornaments. 
Coloured  oleographs  in  common  gilt  frames,  and  all 
manner  of  trumpery,  things  of  European  manufacture 
jostled  each  other  upon  the  walls.  A  small  cupboard, 
its  panels  painted  alternately  with  horseshoes  and 
crescents,  supported  some  shelves  which  were  filled 
with  various  copies  of  the  Qu'ran.  Over  this,  fastened 
to  the  wall,  hung  a  couple  of  extremely  ugly  gas  bur- 
ners, useless  certainly,  there  being  no  gas  in  Tolga, 
and,  therefore,  I  presume,  considered  to  be  orna- 
mental. The  marabout's  son  exhibited  with  pride  an 
inkstand  made  of  shells,  the  kind  of  thing  that  you 
can,  but  do  not,  buy  at  Margate.  It  was  evidently 
one  of  his  most  treasured  possessions. 

The  room  was  uninteresting  and  somewhat  vulgar. 
It  was  not,  however,  so  much  the  trumperiness  of  the 
things  contained  in  it  which  caused  this  impression, 
but  the  total  lack  of  taste  displayed  in  their  arrange- 
ment, and  the  entire  absence  of  any  artistic  feeling, 
I  could  not  help  comparing  it  with  the  underground 
cave  dwelling-rooms  of  the  people  of  Matmata,  of 
which  I  shall  speak  later.^  There,  also,  many  of  the 
things  were  trumpery  to  the  last  degree,  but  the  atmos- 
phere of  those  little  rooms  was  reposeful — they  were 
invested  with  simple  poetry.  The  difference  between 
them  and  the  ugly,  vulgar  room  in  which  the  mara- 
bout's son  received  us  at  Tolga,  was  the  difference 

*   Vide  p.  444. 


TOLGA  409 

between  the  pretty  flagged  kitchens  of  the  EngUsh 
cottage,  and  its  hideous,  unHveable  "  parlour." 

The  only  characteristic  object  bearing  any  real 
interest  in  this  room,  was  the  picture  to  which  I  have 
already  alluded.^  It  was  executed  in  a  sort  of  irides- 
cent paint,  of  bright  colours,  and  represented  Mecca 
and  Medina,  Underneath  the  sacred  Kaaba  of  Mecca 
were  two  mythical  figures  with  their  hands  joined ; 
they  had  the  faces  of  women  ;  each  had  four  wings, 
two  springing  from  the  heads,  and  two  from  the 
shoulders,  with  which  the  draped  bodies  were  covered. 
They  are  called  Buruk.  Mounted  upon  them,  Sidi  Ali 
and  Sidi  Abdullah  are  said  to  have  been  sent  from 
Mecca,  travelling  the  distance  in  one  day,  to  help  Sidi 
Okba  against  the  Roman  King  of  Tunisia.  May  there 
not  be  some  analogy  between  this  legend,  and  that  of 
the  great  Twin  Brethren  who  were  sent  to  aid  the 
Romans  at  Lake  Regillus,  in  their  battle  against  the 
Etruscans.  The  mixed  creature  or  Buruk  seems  to  be 
the  same  as  the  Cherub,  or  the  personification  of  the 
thunderstorm  upon  which  Jehovah  is  said  to  ride. 
Cherubim  with  a  flaming  sword,  which  is  the  lightning, 
kept  the  gate  of  the  Garden  of  Eden.  Berk  is  the 
Arabic  word  for  lightning,  Buruk  being  the  plural  form 
of  the  word.  Barak,  the  Hebrew  proper  name  which 
appears  in  the  Bible,  and  the  Sidonian  name  Barca, 
which  was  the  family  name  of  Hannibal,  also  signify 
hghtning. 

As  symbols  of  awful  power  embodying  the  primitive 
terror  of  the  thunderstorm,  the  cherubims  are  repre- 
sented under  the  form  of  mixed  figures,  embracing  the 
attributes  of  the  wisdom  of  man,  the  kingliness  of  the 
lion,  the  strength  of  the  ox,  and  the  swiftness  of  the 
eagle.    These  symbols  all  appear  in  the  Buruks ;  the 

page  238. 


410  'TWIXT    SAND    AND    SEA 

human  head,  the  Hon's  tail,  the  cloven  feet,  and  the 
wings. 

Crouched  upon  the  floor  in  Oriental  fashion,  the 
marabout's  son  gave  us  coffee,  and  then  took  us  to 
visit  his  father. 

The  marabout  of  Tolga,  and  of  the  Zaouia,  is  a 
magnificent-looking  old  man,  the  exact  opposite  in 
appearance  and  characteristics  to  the  marabout  of 
Biskra.  Both  men  are  personalities  ;  both  possess  a 
grand  dignity  of  bearing.  But  the  marabout  of 
Biskra,  as  I  have  already  said,  is  small  and  gentle- 
looking,  and  has  a  spiritual,  almost  an  ascetic  appear- 
ance, while  the  marabout  of  Tolga  is  a  man  of  great, 
almost  gigantic  height,  and  has  a  proud  manner,  which 
one  can  readily  conceive  might  become  overbearing. 
He  is  obviously  a  man  of  the  world  ;  a  man  of  affairs. 
We  found  him  in  a  small  room  surrounded  by  his 
council,  a  group  of  elderly  men  who  were  all  sitting 
round  him  upon  the  floor.  He  gave  us  a  kind  recep- 
tion, asking  us  how  long  we  were  staying  in  Tolga. 
The  interview  had  something  of  the  nature  of  a  royal 
reception.  The  marabout  only  said  a  few  words,  and 
then  shook  hands  and  dismissed  us. 

The  eldest  sons  of  the  marabouts  of  Tolga,  and 
also  of  Biskra,  who  will  eventually  inherit  their  titles 
and  offices,  bear  no  outward  resemblance  whatever  to 
their  fathers.  The  younger  men  seem  to  have  lost  that 
dignity  and  grandeur  of  bearing,  the  inheritance  of  an 
ancient  race,  which  is  possessed  by  the  elder  men. 
They  have  instead  an  unpleasant  and  distinctly  de- 
cadent air.  The  dissimilarity  between  the  fathers  and 
sons  cannot  be  attributed  to  the  difference  in  age. 
One  wonders  whether  to  look  for  it  in  the  fact  of 
the  European  influence,  and  in  the  difference  between 
the  education  of  the  two  generations ;   possibly  in  the 


TOLGA  411 

adoption  of  absinthe  by  the  younger  one.  Whatever 
the  reason  of  it  may  be,  the  result  is  very  noticeable. 

Change  will  doubtless  in  time  come  to  Tolga, 
wrought  by  the  European  element,  with  its  necessarily 
mixed  influence  for  good  and  evil.  But  at  present  it 
is  difficult  to  realise  even  the  possibility  of  any  radical 
alteration.  As  one  passes  through  the  quaint  narrow 
streets  of  the  little  brown  village,  bathed  in  the 
exquisite  evening  light,  one  cannot  really  find  it  in 
one's  heart  to  desire  it.  At  that  supreme  moment  of 
beauty  the  assurance  of  the  advantages  that  European 
civilisation  may  possibly  bring,  is  swallowed  up  in  the 
thought  of  what  it  must  certainly  spoil. 

Once  more,  the  winding,  irregular  stair  of  an  Arab 
mosque  is  climbed,  the  broken  floor  of  the  minaret  is 
reached.  Tolga,  with  its  clustered  mass  of  flat  sun- 
burnt houses,  is  spread  out  at  our  feet,  isolated  and 
self-centred,  and  buried  in  the  desert. 

At  the  corner  of  every  flat  roof  stands  a  round 
pot,  which  was  let  into  the  earthen  brickwork  when 
the  house  was  built.  It  is  to  hold  the  libation  of 
camels'  blood,  or  bones  or  incense,  offered  to  Allah 
by  the  family,  as  a  preservative  perhaps  against  evil, 
and  to  bring  luck  to  the  house.^ 

The  sky  is  crimson  in  the  west  above  the  great 
golden  globe  that  is  slowly  sinking  to  rest  behind  the 
palm-trees.  The  goats  are  coming  in  from  the  moun- 
tains where  they  have  been  all  day.  As  they  pass  up 
the  narrow  street,  one  after  another  detaches  itself 
from  the  rest ;  each  animal  upon  reaching  its  home 
runs  into  the  open  door  of  the  house,  where  it  shares 
the  life  of  the  family.     I  have  seen  the  same  thing  in 

^  For  this  custom,  common  in  some  districts  of  North  Africa,  and  almost 
or  quite  unknown  in  others,  we  were  able  to  discover  no  satisfactory  reason 
for,  or  explanation  of,  but  the  cauldron  was  said  to  be  a  marabout. 


412  'TWIXT   SAND    AND    SEA 

Spain,  when  the  little  brown  pigs  are  brought  home  at 
night  by  the  man  who  undertakes  to  collect  them  all. 
Each  one  scuttles  into  its  respective  home,  squeaking 
and  scrambling  up  the  door-step,  apparently  delighted 
to  find  itself  there  once  more.  It  is  worth  while 
walking  down  the  steep  cobbled  streets  of  some  of  the 
small  Spanish  towns  at  sunset,  just  to  see  the  sight. 

Now,  a  breathless  silence  rests  over  Tolga.  The 
little  Arab  village  seems  to  be  all  alone  in  the  world, 
or  rather  to  constitute  the  world  with  no  other  out- 
side it.  Suddenly,  the  sun  drops,  and  the  grey  of  the 
southern  sky  turns  to  pink.  The  Arab,  who  is  patiently 
waiting  in  the  minaret,  calls  the  muezzin.  Once  more 
the  weird  cry  goes  out  from  the  four  windows  of  the 
mosque.  At  Tolga  all  the  earth  seems  to  be  silent  to 
listen  to  that  cry.  For  a  moment,  a  great  darkness 
descends  upon  the  desert — then,  suddenly,  the  moon 
sails  out  from  behind  the  clouds.  As  we  reach  the 
silent  street  again,  a  long  line  of  camels  is  winding  its 
way  in  slowly,  with  soft  padding  feet,  that  are  fashioned 
for  the  desert,  and  not  for  man-made  roads.  Great 
empty  boxes  which  have  been  full  of  dates  hang  upon 
their  sides.  You  have  to  stand  aside  to  let  them  pass 
in  the  narrow  pathway,  with  outstretched  necks  and 
noses  scenting  the  air. 

Beyond  Tolga  the  great  desert  sleeps  in  mysterious 
silence.  And  to  all  outward  appearance  the  little 
village  lying  upon  its  bosom  sleeps  also. 


'i  CHAPTER   IX 

,  DEATH    AND    JUDGMENT 

ll 
"  In  each  little  village  upon  the  Sahara  all  the  buildings 

are  brown  ;    the  pale  brown  of  dry  sun-baked  sand, 

I  the  mosque  alone  being  generally  of  gUstening  white : 

!  so  it  is  at  Old  Biskra. 

Inside  the  mosque  everything  is  white  also,  a  white 

'  of  different  tones.  There  is  the  dead  grey  white  of  the 
bare,  washed  walls ;    the  yellowish  white  of  the  gar- 

I  ments  of  the  priest,  sitting  high  up  in  the  mimbar  ;  the 
white  of  those  of  the  worshippers.  And  all  this  white 
serves  to  throw  up  in  strong  contrast  the  concentrated 

'  colour  of  the  coverings  of  the  dead. 
ll       Silent,  and  apparently  unheeded,  behind  the  long 

'  rows  of  muttering  worshippers,  three  corpses  lie  under 
the  gaudily  striped  palls  of  red  and  yellow — each  one 
upon  a  separate  wooden  bier.     Beneath  the  thin  cover- 

I  ing,  the  shape  of  the  face  and  the  sharp  outline  of  the 

i  nose  of  each  are  plainly  visible.  Ten  hours  ago  each  of 
those  quiet  forms  was  a  living,  breathing,  human  being. 

i  Now  they  lie  waiting  for  the  hurried  burial  of  the  East. 

I  The  relatives  of  the  dead,  with  dishevelled  garments 
and  turbans  untwisted,  kneel  apart.  Presently,  the 
priest  descends  from  the  mimbar,  and  prostrates  him- 
self before  the  mirhab  in  the  direction  of  Mecca. 

"  Alahou  Akbar,  Alahou  Akbar  !  "  Now  the  service 
is  over.  Four  times  the  monotonous  and  ever  famiUar 
repetition  vibrates  through  the  building.  The  words 
die  away  into  a  pathetic  silence  as  the  worshippers  turn 

upwards  the  biers,  raise  them,  place  them  before  the 

413 


414  'TWIXT    SAND    AND    SEA 

mirhab,  and  crowd  round  them  with  muttered  prayers. 
Then  each  is  Ufted  shoulder-high,  and  the  silent  bur- 
dens are  borne  away  once  more  from  the  cool  dimness 
of  the  mosque,  into  the  blinding  glare  of  the  sun. 

Two  of  the  dead  are  taken  to  the  little  graveyard 
close  by.  The  other  is  carried  down  the  narrow  streets 
of  the  village,  between  the  high  brown  earthen  walls, 
towards  the  larger  cemetery.  This  lies  beside  the 
high-road  to  Biskra. 

The  little  procession  winds  its  way  onwards.  They 
walk  fast ;  for,  pertinently  said  the  Prophet,  it  is  good 
to  carry  the  dead  quickly  to  the  grave,  to  cause  the 
righteous  person  to  arrive  soon  at  happiness  ;  and  if 
he  is  a  bad  one,  it  is  well  to  put  wickedness  away  from 
one's  shoulders.  Behind,  come  a  dozen  or  two  of 
white-robed  men,  like  cowled  monks,  the  family  of 
the  dead ;  and  the  paid  mourners  who  utter  weird 
and  melancholy  sounds  of  grief. 

The  bearers  are  continually  changed,  for  the  carry- 
ing of  a  corpse  is  considered  a  meritorious  action. 
Soon  the  high  walls  of  the  village  are  left  behind  ;  the 
palms  of  Biskra  come  into  view  ;  the  encircling  range 
of  the  Aures  Mountains,  and  the  desert.  About  half 
a  mile  of  dusty  road  has  to  be  traversed  ;  and  the 
cemetery  is  reached. 

Until  now,  the  women  have  been  walking  in  the 
procession  with  the  men.  Arrived  at  the  graveyard, 
they  separate  themselves,  and  remain  behind.  For 
women  must  not  follow  the  dead  to  the  grave-side. 
They  must  not  join  in  the  prayers.  They  sit  down 
under  some  palm-trees  upon  the  edge  of  the  cemetery, 
and  the  procession  passes  on,  leaving  them  alone. 

Two  little  girls  are  sobbing  bitterly,  with  loud 
heartrending  cries.  Their  grief  is  real  and  pitiful. 
One  has  thrown  her  shawl  over  her  head ;   the  other 


DEATH    AND    JUDGMENT  415 

covers  her  face  with  her  hands.  That  silent  form 
under  the  gay  covering  is  their  mother.  Now  they 
are  left  desolate.  Their  father  will  take  another  wife, 
perhaps  even  two.  So  they  sit  sobbing,  with  the 
I  abandonment  of  sorrow,  under  the  palm-trees.  And 
the  sad  procession  passes  on  whither  they  must  not 
il  follow  it. 

The   suffering  that   is  real  must  remain   afar   off. 

The  husband,  indeed,  with  bowed  head  stands  some- 

I  what    apart    near    the    grave,    but    the    melancholy 

!  howUng,    continuing    all    the   time   that    it   is    being 

prepared,  has  no  meaning  in  it. 
!  The  grave  is  lined  with  sun-dried  bricks.  Some  of 
I  the  people  standing  by  help  to  fetch  them  from  a  pile 
i  that  is  lying  a  little  distance  off.  Pieces  of  wood  are 
:  placed  across  the  top  to  form  a  hollow,  in  order  that 
the  dead  may  sit  up  with  ease  to  be  examined  by  the 
'  recording  angels,  Mounkar  and  Nakir.  An  upright 
brick  is  placed  at  the  head  and  feet  for  the  angels 
;  to  sit  upon  during  the  dread  interview.  When  all  is 
:  finished  the  body  of  the  dead  woman,  fully  dressed, 
|i  is  lowered  into  the  ground  and  laid  upon  its  back 
I  with  the  feet  towards  Mecca. 

I  "  We  commit  thee  to  earth  in  the  name  of  God, 
:  and  in  the  religion  of  the  Prophet."  Four  men,  each 
i  taking  a  corner  of  the  gaudy  red  and  yellow  covering, 
I  hold  it  over  the  grave  while  the  prayers  for  the  dead 
I  are  said.  "  Allah  Akbar,  Allah  Akbar !  " 
i  All  is  over.  The  mourners  move  away  in  twos  and 
I  threes,  talking  as  they  go.  Only  the  little  girls  are  left 
■  behind  the  palm-trees  afar  off,  still  sobbing  aloud  in 
'  their  desolation. 

A  short  time  ago  a  man  was  buried  in  one  of  the 
villages  of  the  Ziban.     His  dog,  unnoticed,  had  followed 


4i6  'TWIXT   SAND   AND    SEA 

the  sad  procession  to  the  cemetery.  Perhaps,  like 
the  Httle  girls,  this  faithful  friend  also  had  remained 
watching  from  a  distance.  When  his  master  was  laid 
in  the  ground,  and  the  people  had  moved  away,  the 
dog  crept  up  close,  and  lay  down  beside  the  grave. 
Presently,  some  animal  bit  the  face  of  the  man  in 
the  grave ;  and,  uttering  a  faint  cry,  he  stirred — for 
he  was  not  dead.  Unconsciousness  had  been  mis- 
taken for  death;  and  the  hasty  burial  had  taken 
place. 

The  dog  was  down  in  an  instant  tearing  and 
scratching  at  the  earth  with  his  paws  ;  whining  and 
barking  in  frantic  joy.  In  a  few  minutes  the  man 
was  released,  and  climbed  out  of  the  grave  and  walked 
to  his  house.  When  his  relations  had  recovered  from 
their  fright  and  surprise  at  his  wonderful  resurrection, 
they  made  a  great  feast  to  celebrate  it. 

The  dog  and  his  owner,  the  latter  with  the  marks 
of  the  bite  still  upon  his  face,  and  the  scratches  made 
by  the  faithful  animal  who  had  saved  his  life,  are  still 
to  be  seen  at  Oumache,  such  is  the  story  that  was  told 
us,  as  living  witnesses  of  the  truth  of  the  story. 

The  funeral  processions  in  North  Africa,  partly  from 
necessity  and  partly  perhaps  in  recognition  of  a  reproof 
delivered  by  the  Prophet,  always  walk  to  the  cemetery. 
"  Have  you  no  shame  since  God's  angels  go  on  foot, 
and  you  go  upon  the  backs  of  quadrupeds  ?  " 

Wonderfully  haunting  and  pathetic  is  the  solemn 
drone  of  the  chant,^  heard  first  of  all  afar  off,  then 
coming  nearer  and  nearer  ;  mingUng  with  the  tramp 
of  the  slippered  feet  as  the  crowd  passes  you  ;    and 

*  In  many  places  in  Algeria  upon  the  way  to  the  grave,  they  recite  the 
poem  called  La  Borda,  by  the  celebrated  El  Boncere,  which  is  counted 
amongst  the  sacred  books.  The  part  towards  the  end,  although  very  few 
people  are  aware  of  it,  is  the  lament  of  the  poet  for  his  dead  mistress. 
(E.  Doutte.) 


DEATH    AND   JUDGMENT  417 

then  dying  away  gradually,  until  the  sound  sinks  into 
silence  in  the  distance. 

Down  the  main  street  at  Constantine  these  proces- 
sions, with  short  intervals  between  them,  are  incessant 
at  certain  hours.  Groups  of  white-robed  figures,  a 
wooden  bier  borne  high  in  their  midst,  the  outline 
of  the  face  and  form  scarcely  concealed  by  its  bright- 
coloured  pall,  file  quickly  past.  Every  moment  the 
bearers  are  changed,  as  the  dead  are  carried  swiftly 
down  the  hill  of  the  Condiat  Aty  to  the  cemetery. 

•  •••••• 

The  Moslem  does  not  plant  trees  in  the  cemeteries  ; 
neither  does  he  write  things  upon  the  graves.  In  the 
spring-time,  it  may  be,  soft  grass  tenderly  covers  the 
mounds,  and  the  spaces  between  them.  Wild  flowers 
of  many  colours  make  bright  patches  amongst  the 
green  ;  and  all  looks  bright  and  hopeful.  But  this 
does  not  last.  The  summer  comes.  The  flowers  fade 
and  the  grass  dries  up  and  withers,  and  dies  in  the  hot 
sun.  The  ground  becomes  dry  and  crumbling,  and 
the  graves  which  are  not  covered  by  a  tombstone 
become  nothing  but  naked  heaps  of  broken  earth. 

"It  is  written — it  is  finished.  If  it  is  broken — it 
is  broken,"  says  the  Arab,  and  the  words  describe  the 
attitude  of  his  mind  and  character.  The  very  name 
of  his  religion  signifies  fatalism  and  total  absence  of 
energy  and  initiative.  The  Arab  does  a  little  work, 
and  Nature,  if  she  is  beneficent,  accepts  the  scanty  aid 
that  he  gives  to  her,  and  feeds  him.  If  she  is  cruel,  he 
starves.  So  it  is  with  the  graves,  with  the  slight  dif- 
ference, that  in  this  case  Nature  works  entirely  alone. 

But  the  Moslem  does  not  forget  his  dead.  On  the 
contrary,  he  respects  them  and  constantly  visits  the 
place  where  they  are  laid. 

A  strange  pathos  and  fascination  surrounds  the 

2  D 


4i8  'TWIXT   SAND   AND    SEA 

graveyards  of  North  Africa.  It  lies  partly  perhaps 
in  their  simplicity,  partly  in  their  unexpectedness  and 
picturesqueness,  and  a  great  deal  in  something  that  is 
illusive  and  indescribable.  They  are  seldom  enclosed. 
The  Httle  sandy  mounds  of  the  great  cemetery  at 
Biskra  mingle  almost  with  the  road.  Sometimes  the 
cemeteries  are  just  a  spot  in  the  desert.  Sometimes 
the  graves  nestle  against  the  walls  of  the  sand-baked 
houses,  as  in  the  English  cottages  rose-trees  and  wall- 
flowers will.  Death  is  a  familiar  thing  to  the  inhabi- 
tants of  those  brown  villages. 

The  little  flat  white  tombstones  possess  a  peculiar 
interest.  Their  shape  and  design  vary  in  different 
districts ;  but  in  each  graveyard  it  is  generally  uni- 
form. 

Sometimes  a  wedge-shaped  headstone  stands  upon 
the  grave;  frequently  the  place  is  marked  by  little 
white-washed  cones,  or  the  tomb  of  a  man  is  dis- 
tinguished by  a  couple  of  small  pillars  of  about  a 
foot  high,  standing  upon  the  flat  ledger.  Generally  the 
little  pillar  is  crowned  by  a  turban,  roughly  carved  in 
stone  ^  and  painted  green  or  red,  the  colours  of  the  Pro- 
phet. Sometimes  the  grave  of  a  woman  is  marked  by 
two  small  rounded  pieces  of  stone  either  painted  or 
left  plain,  representing  the  head-dress  or  Ras  Kofia  of 
the  native  of  North  Africa. 

The  signs  and  symbols  in  low  relief  upon  the 
tombstones  are  all  survivals  of  a  primitive  and  pagan 
cult.  The  same  are  found  upon  the  houses,  and  are 
worked  into  the  stucco  arabesques  which  adorn  the 
rich  mosques  and  large  buildings.  Their  original 
meaning  is  unknown  to  the  people  who  continue  to 

^  The  Mohammedan  attaches  extraordinary  importance  to  his  head- 
dress. One  of  the  four  peculiar  things  said  to  have  been  bestowed  upon 
him  by  God  was  that  his  turban  should  be  unto  him  as  a  diadem. 


DEATH   AND   JUDGMENT  419 

use  them.     Now  they  are  employed  simply  as  deco- 
ration, or  perhaps  more  frequently  as  talismans. 

This  applies  in  a  sense  to  a  very  curious  sur- 
vival which  is  found  in  the  Mohammedan  graveyards. 
Upon  most  of  the  fiat  tombstones  in  North  Africa  there 
is  a  round  hole  cut  out  in  the  stone  of  about  five  or  six 
inches  in  diameter  and  about  three  inches  deep.  So 
generally  is  this  adopted,  and  so  completely  has  its 
real  significance  been  lost,  that  in  one  instance  I  have 
seen  it  upon  a  Christian  tombstone  which  happened 
to  have  been  the  work  of  a  Moslem  stonemason.^ 

The  somewhat  vague  reason  for  these  holes  in  the 
tombstones  given  by  some  of  the  natives  when  ques- 
tioned provides  a  clue  probably  to  their  original  mean- 
ing. The  explanation  is  in  all  cases  much  the  same, 
though  it  varies  in  form  and  actual  words.  As  with 
so  many  of  these  survivals,  the  presence  of  the  holes 
seems  to  be  taken  by  them  simply  as  a  matter  of 
course. 

They  are   "  for  the  birds,"   they  say.    When  it 
rains,  the  holes  become  full  of  water  :  "  The  birds  come 
and  drink,  and  sing  songs  of  thankfulness."     This  is 
"  good  for  the  dead,  and  good  for  the  birds."     Some- 
times the  natives  put  a  few  crumbs  in  the  hole  which 
I    the  birds  come  and  eat.    The  explanation  is  invari- 
I    ably  the  same.     "  It  is  good  for  the  dead,"  and  "  It  is 
I    good  also  for  the  birds,"  they  add  sometimes. 

There  is  much  of  beauty  and  poetry  in  the  idea, 
!    which  is  also  intensely  interesting.    For  it  probably 
I    contains  the  survival  of  an  early  pagan  belief. 
I         The  Egyptians  held  that  the  soul   of   the  dead 
'    person  escaped  and  rose  to  heaven  in  the  form  of  a 

^  The  tombstone  is  in  the  wall  of  the  cemetery  surrounding  the  English 
I     church  at  Tunis.     It  was  made  in  the  seventeenth  century.     ("  Signs  and 
Symbols,"  Fig.  30.) 


420  'TWIXT    SAND    AND    SEA 

bird.  In  the  case  of  a  king,  it  was  invariably  a 
sparrow-hawk.  With  ordinary  mortals  the  soul  took 
the  form  of  the  so-called  ha,  a  human-headed  bird, 
sometimes  possessing  human  arms.  It  was  generally 
in  early  times  a  male  bird,  for  the  Egyptians  were 
accustomed  to  think  of  the  dead  in  the  next  world 
as  male,  even  though  that  person  happened  to  be^  in 
this  life,  a  woman. 

At  any  moment,  it  was  thought,  the  soul-bird 
might  desire  to  revisit  its  body  lying  in  the  tomb. 
But  the  body  might  conceivably  decay,  or  even  be 
lost ;  then  the  soul  would  be  unable  to  find  it,  and 
would  wander  long  and  hopelessly  in  search.  And 
so,  in  order  that  this  might  not  happen,  the  ancient 
Egyptians  placed  in  the  tomb  carved  figures  of  the 
dead  person.  These  they  believed  and  hoped  the 
soul-bird,  should  it  return,  would  mistake  for  its 
former  body,  and  thus  feel  satisfied  and  at  home. 
They  also  placed  food  in  the  graves  in  case  the  soul 
should  be  hungry. 

As  time  went  on  perhaps  this  idea  of  the  soul- 
bird's  return  to  visit  the  body  was  lost  sight  of ;  but 
yet  there  remained  a  dim  recollection  of  some  bird 
that  came  to  the  graves.  Then  gradually,  though 
it  still  lived  on,  even  this  belief  grew  more  and  more 
vague,  until  now  it  seems  to  survive  only  in  this  in- 
definite fancy  that  birds  may  come  to  the  spot  where 
the  dead  are  laid  ;  that  if  they  come  they  will  be  glad 
of  food  and  water  ;  moreover,  that  the  act  of  feed- 
ing them,  and  giving  them  to  drink,  as  the  people 
say,  is  "  good  for  the  birds,  and  good  also  for  the 
dead." 

Another  custom  having  no  relation  to  the  Moham- 
medan religion  is  fairly  common  in  North  Africa.  Upon 
many  of  the  tombs  may  be  seen  lying  a  little  pile  of 


DEATH    AND    JUDGMENT  421 

stones.  They  have  been  put  there  one  by  one  by 
those  who  passed  by,  the  action  being  influenced  per- 
haps by  the  idea  contained  in  sympathetic  magic  that 
evil  is  thereby  transferred  from  the  thrower  to  the 
deceased,  or  possibly  as  an  offering  to  the  manes  of 
the  dead.^ 

In  the  graveyards  there  is  generally  the  tomb  of 
a  marabout ;  a  square  white  building  with  a  domed 
roof.  This  has  rendered  the  place  sacred.  One  by 
one  the  humbler  graves  gather  round  it. 

Once  there  was  an  old  marabout  who  lived  at 
Tunis.  He  had  chosen  the  spot  where  he  wished  to 
be  buried  in  the  quiet  cemetery  upon  the  hill  above 
the  Kasba.  Perhaps  he  had  not  so  definitely  estab- 
lished his  right  to  the  character  of  marabout  as  to  be 
certain  that  the  people  would  build  a  Kouba  over  him. 
Therefore  he  began  to  build  it  for  himself.  But 
he  could  not  afford  to  spend  any  money  upon  it,  for 
he  was  very  poor.  So  every  time  he  could  find  a 
piece  of  broken  china,  or  a  morsel  of  coloured  tile,  he 
took  it  up  to  the  graveyard ;  then  with  some  cement 
and  a  few  stones  plastered  together  he  began  to  make 
the  walls  of  his  tomb. 

The  building  grew  and  grew.  Day  after  day  he 
toiled  up  the  hill  with  his  bit  of  china  or  scrap  of  tile 
and  added  it  to  the  patchwork  covering  of  the  wall. 
Then  he  would  stand  and  admire  his  work.  It  was 
very  beautiful,  he  thought.  But  he  was  very  old ; 
each  day  he  was  getting  more  feeble.  He  must 
make  haste  to  finish  his  tomb.  He  worked  hard. 
Three  of  the  four  walls  were  finished.  The  fourth 
was  begun.     Then  one  day  he  died. 

His  father  had  been  buried  in  another  part  of  the 

^  The  custom  is  a  very  widespread  one  all  over  the  world,  the  reasons 
for  it  differing  probably  in  different  places. 


422  'TWIXT   SAND   AND   SEA 

cemetery,  so  they  laid  the  old  man  there,  instead  of 
on  the  spot  which  he  had  chosen  for  himself. 

Now  nothing  remains  of  the  work  over  which  he 
spent  so  many  years  but  a  bit  of  fallen  wall  stuck 
over  with  broken  tiles  and  pieces  of  china  of  many 
colours.  The  weeds  have  grown  up  and  almost  hidden 
it.    And  the  old  man  sleeps  somewhere  else. 

The  Arabs  have  many  stories  referring  to  the  end 
of  the  world. 

The  world  is  said  to  be  round  and  flat,  and  divided 
in  half  by  an  iron  wall  forty-five  metres  in  thickness. 
Upon  one  side  are  the  human  beings  ;  upon  the  other 
are  thousands  of  pigmies,  who  desire  to  get  to  the 
men,  in  order  to  destroy  them.  The  pigmies  have 
always  been  licking  the  iron  wall  with  their  tongues. 
At  last  they  will  have  licked  it  so  thin  that  it  is  only 
the  thickness  of  a  piece  of  the  thinnest  paper.  There 
is  some  one  over  them,  who  will  not  let  them  break 
through  this  wall ;  but  on  a  certain  day  they  will  be 
allowed  to  do  so.  Then  they  will  find  the  sea  between 
them  and  the  human  beings.  But  the  pigmies  are  so 
numerous  that  they  will  drink  the  sea  dry,  and  then 
be  able  to  get  at  the  human  race. 

This  story  evidently  refers  to  Gog  and  Magog, 
who  are  spoken  of  in  the  Old  and  New  Testament,^ 
and  of  whom  wonderful  things  are  related  also  in 
the  Ou'ran.  In  this  book  one  of  the  signs  of  the 
end  of  the  world  is  said  to  be  the  breaking  forth 
from  their  confinement  of  these  barbarians,  who, 
having  passed  the  Lake  of  Tiberias,  which  the 
vanguard  of  their  vast  army  will  drink  dry,  will 
proceed  to  Jerusalem.  These  people,  it  is  said, 
were  wont  to  make  irruptions  into  the  neighbouring 

'  Ezek.  xxxviii.  2,  xxxix.  i,  6  ;  Rev.  xx.  8. 


DEATH   AND   JUDGMENT  423 

i  I  countries  in  the  spring-time  and  to  destroy  and  carry 
off  all  the  fruits  of  the  earth. 

Against  them,  and  between  two  great  mountains 
in  Armenia  and  Adherbigan,  Dhu  'Ikarnein,  or  the 
I  "  Two-horned,"  built  a  great  wall.^  The  people  who 
were  suffering  from  the  incursions  offered  to  pay  a 
tribute  on  condition  that  Dhu  'Ikarnein  built  this 
protecting  rampart. 

And  he   answered  :    "  The  power  wherewith  my 

I   Lord    hath    strengthened    me    is   better   than    your 

I   tribute  ;  but  assist  me  strenuously,  and  I  will  set  a 

strong  wall  between  you  and  them.    Bring  me  iron^ 

1   in  large  pieces,  until  it  fill  up  the  space  between  the 

I   two  sides  of  these  mountains."     Wherefore,  when  the 

I   wall  was  finished,  Gog  and  Magog  could  not  scale  it ; 

neither  could  they  dig  through  it.     And  Dhu  'Ikarnein 

said,  "  This  is  a  mercy  from  my  Lord ;  but  when  the 

'    prediction  of  my  Lord  shall  come  to  be  fulfilled,  he 

shall  reduce  the  wall  to  dust ;    and  the  prediction  of 

my  Lord  is  true." 

Another  tale  I  have  found  amongst  the  natives  is 
that  the  pigmies  are  always  tunnelling  through  a  great 
mountain,  which  separates  them  from  human  beings. 
But  as  they  will  not  say  Inshallah,  or  "if  God  wills," 
all  that  they  do  during  the  day  gets  filled  up  at  night. 
One  day  a  child  will  be  born  whose  name  will  be 
Inshallah.  So,  in  calHng  the  child  by  its  name, 
"  Inshallah,  Inshallah,"  they  will  utter  the  fateful 
word.  The  spell  will  be  broken,  and  they  will  be  able 
to  do  what  they  wish. 

^  Some  commentators  think  Dhu  'Ikarnein  to  have  been  Alexander  the 
Great.  Others  consider  him  to  have  belonged  to  a  much  earlier  date, 
and  to  have  been  one  of  the  Kings  of  Persia  of  the  first  race. 

*  Probably  because  of  the  superstitious  awe,  alluded  to  elsewhere,  with 
which  iron  is  regarded,  and  the  power  over  the  spirits  with  which  it  is 
credited. 


424  'TWIXT   SAND   AND   SEA 

This  story  and  the  former  one,  and  also  the 
gazelle  story  given  elsewhere/  were  related  by  a  young 
Arab  as  he  walked  with  us  on  the  Tolga  road  one 
evening.  Now  and  then  he  would  stand  still  to  em- 
phasise what  he  was  saying  with  dramatic  gesture — 
he  was  a  born  story-teller — and  our  interest  in  hearing 
the  tales  increased  his  interest  and  enthusiasm  in 
telling.  Once  he  took  the  walking-stick  from  my 
hand  and  drew  figures  in  the  sand  to  illustrate  his 
meaning.  His  tales,  he  assured  me,  were  all  from  the 
Qu'ran ;  for,  as  I  have  remarked  elsewhere,  the  Mussul- 
man of  North  Africa  supposes  that  all  the  folk-tales 
with  which  he  is  familiar  have  their  origin  in  the 
sacred  book,  or  are  connected  in  some  roundabout 
way  with  the  religion  of  the  Prophet, 

'  Vide  p.  371. 


CHAPTER    X 

"O   BAAL,   HEAR   US" 

"  0  Baal,  hear  us."  The  echo  perhaps  of  this  remote 
and  terrible  cry  is  still  sounding  down  through  the 
ages.  "  They  cried  aloud  and  cut  themselves  after 
their  manner  with  knives  and  lancets."  Traces  of  that 
dread  worship  are  thought  to  be  still  surviving  even 
in  Europe,  in  generally  unrecognised  forms  in  later 
rehgions.  M.  Doutt^  thinks  that  they  are  found  in  the 
worship  of  the  Aissaouas.  It  was  the  cult  of  the  sun, 
which  was  worshipped  by  the  ancients  under  different 
names.  Among  the  Libyans,  the  race  to  which  the 
natives  of  North  Africa  belong,  the  god  was  called 
Hammon  or  Baal  Amon. 

He  was  the  giver  of  life.  And  as  his  life  meant 
the  life  of  the  world,  equally  so  his  death  was  the 
cause  of  death.  In  the  time  of  the  world's  childhood, 
the  annual  death  of  the  sun  was  a  disaster,  inspiring 
absolute  terror.  It  signified  the  sterilisation  of  the 
earth,  the  apparent  death  of  all  nature  and  vegeta- 
tion— possibly  even  of  all  living  creatures.  When 
gradually  the  green  things  drooped,  and  faded,  and 
died,  and  the  earth  became  dry  and  barren,  man 
in  his  childish  ignorance  was  filled  with  dread.  The 
fear  of  finality  seized  him.  For  even  he  himself  might 
become  the  victim  of  this  universal  death. 

Anyhow  he  could  feel  no  assurance  of  the  great 
god's  return.     For  primitive  man  was  ignorant  of  the 

fact  that  the  sun's  course  was  fixed  and  certain  ;  that 

435 


426  'TWIXT   SAND   AND   SEA 

as  surely  as  he  died,  so  surely  would  he  return  to 
gladden  the  earth  and  provide  living  creatures  with 
food.  The  danger  of  universal  death  must  be  averted 
somehow.  To  effect  this  the  ancients  mourned  the 
death  of  the  sun-god  by  sacrificing  to  him  their  most 
precious  things. 

In  this  season  of  desolation  and  supreme  grief  men 
mutilated  themselves  in  a  terrible  manner.  Women 
sacrificed  their  beauty,  by  tearing  and  disfiguring  their 
faces  and  cutting  off  their  hair.  Children  were  sacri- 
ficed and  put  to  death  in  order  to  celebrate  and  mourn 
the  death  of  Hammon,  and  to  turn  away  the  catas- 
trophe accompanying  that  death. 

By  degrees,  as  men  became  more  civilised,  human 
sacrifices  ceased ;  animals  were  offered  instead.  The 
mutilations  continued,  but  became  less  violent,  less 
severe.  Gradually,  as  the  world  grew  in  knowledge, 
the  conscious  worship  of  the  sun-god  died  out,  and 
the  original  meaning  of  these  sacrifices  and  muti- 
lations was  lost  in  antiquity.  But  their  practice 
still  went  on  in  different  forms,  and  the  rites  were 
absorbed  into  the  new  religions. 

By  the  confraternity  of  the  Aissaouas  in  North 
Africa  the  character  of  these  pagan  cults  seems 
to  be  preserved  in  a  very  complete  degree. 

The  sect  nominally  is  a  Mohammedan  one.  At 
their  worship  they  call  upon  the  name  of  Allah,  and 
read  portions  of  the  Qu'ran.  But  though  they  are  not 
conscious  of  it  themselves,  the  strange  performances 
connected  with  their  rites,  and  the  weird  things  that 
take  place  during  their  celebration,  belong  purely  and 
intimately  to  a  pagan  nature-worship.  The  mutila- 
tions are  less  terrible  and  less  violent,  but  otherwise 
perhaps  there  is  no  difference  between  the  rites  of  the 
disciples  of  Aissaoua  in  the  mosques  and  those  of  the 


"O    BAAL,    HEAR    US"  427 

priests  of  Baal,  who  cried  and  cut  themselves  with 
knives  in  the  sacred  groves. 

This  fact  adds  immense  interest  to  the  strange 
customs  connected  with  the  worship  of  this  curious 
sect. 

The  Aissaoua  is  not  a  common  or  numerous 
brotherhood,  and  it  is  a  very  close  one.  The  initia- 
tion takes  place  when  the  candidates  desiring  admis- 
sion are  quite  boys.  These  rites  of  initiation,  I  find, 
include  baptism  with  holy  water,  by  the  priest  of  the 
order,  who  also  spits  into  the  mouth  of  the  novice  ;  this 
latter  action  representing  the  acquisition  of  baraka,  and 
being  common  in  all  rites  of  magic.  At  the  same  time 
words  from  the  Qu'ran  are  uttered.  Concerning  the 
ceremonial  of  worship,  and  the  extraordinary  things 
which  take  place  at  it,  the  members  themselves,  at 
least  the  ordinary  ones,  seem  to  understand  little. 
They  possibly  will  not,  more  likely  cannot,  give  any 
explanation  of  what  they  do.  The  fact  is,  that  the 
whole  thing  is  the  expression  of  a  cult  that  has  been 
forgotten  ;  it  does  not  belong  to  this  age  or  this  civili- 
sation at  all.     It  is  purely  a  survival. 

The  little  native  town  of  Teboursouk,  the  ancient 
Thubursicum  of  the  Romans,  perched  up  amongst  the 
mountains,  thirty  miles  from  the  railway  station  of 
Medjez-el-Bab,  is  a  stronghold  of  the  Aissaouas. 

The  road  from  Medjez-el-Bab,  passing  through  Tes- 
tour,^  between  two  chains  of  mountains,  follows  the 
course  of  the  river  Medjerda.  From  the  plain  it  rises 
gradually  upward,  winding  in  and  out  of  the  moun- 
tains like  a  shining  band  of  silver,  appearing  and  dis- 
appearing ahead  of  you.  In  April  its  edges  are  ablaze 
with  flowers  of  the  most  gorgeous  colouring.  Gorse 
bushes  are  weighed  down  with  their  mass  of  gold,  the 

1    Vide  p.  153. 


428  TWIXT   SAND   AND    SEA 

mauve  flowers  of  the  rosemary  mix  with  the  pale 
yellow  spikes  of  the  wild  mignonette,  and  thick  masses 
of  brilliant  orange  marigolds  make  a  sumptuous  car- 
pet. All  the  colours  are  rich ;  even  the  poppies  are 
deep  crimson,  instead  of  scarlet. 

As  our  little  diligence  lumbers  heavily  along, 
strange  figures  meet  or  pass  us  on  the  road.  A  group 
of  Bedouin  women,  wearing  garments  of  the  native 
blue,  this  colour  taking  the  place  of  the  red  worn  in 
some  parts  of  the  country.  A  rich  Arab  wearing  a 
blue-grey  burnous  is  riding  a  handsome  mule,  fur- 
nished with  a  richly  embroidered  saddle.  Then  follow 
a  group  of  men  all  in  white.  Close  to  the  road  a 
native  is  ploughing  with  a  team  of  twelve  handsome 
oxen.  The  Oued  Khalled  lies  below,  deep  down  at 
the  bottom  of  a  gorge,  which  it  has  cut  for  itself  in  the 
soft  sand,  as  clearly  as  though  with  a  knife.  Behind, 
far  away  in  the  distance,  rises  the  great  Djebel  Zag- 
houan,  towering  grandly  over  Tunisia.  Presently, 
climbing  up  the  rocky  height  ahead,  Teboursouk  comes 
into  sight.  Very  white  and  very  picturesque  it  looks 
when  seen  from  a  distance,  very  dirty  and  very  squalid 
it  is  really ;  until  evening  comes  with  its  kindly  veil, 
and  softens  and  hides  all  the  crudities. 

It  is  the  Mo<iloud,  the  day  of  the  Prophet's  birth- 
day, and  one  of  the  great  Mohammedan  feasts.  The 
Aissaouas  are  holding  a  splendid  service  in  honour 
of  it. 

The  object  of  our  pilgrimage  to  Teboursouk  had  been 
to  visit  the  Roman  city  of  Thugga,  which  could  be 
reached  from  thence .  We  had  arrived  only  late  the  night 
before,  and  during  the  whole  of  the  day  there  had  been 
a  heavy  and  unceasing  downpour  of  rain  ;  we  had 
managed  somehow  to  get  through  and  survive  an  in- 
expressibly disappointing  time,  determining  that  even 


"O    BAAL,    HEAR    US"  429 

the  desire  to  see  Thugga  would  not  enable  us  to  struggle 
through  such  another  twelve  hours,  but  that  we  should 
have  to  acknowledge  ourselves  vanquished  and  go 
back  again  to  Tunis.  We  had  already  resigned  our- 
selves to  a  dreary  evening  in  the  small  French  inn, 
one  of  those  which  are  kept  up  chiefly  by  the  officers 
of  the  French  garrison,  and  are  to  be  found  in  quite 
out-of-the-way  places.  They  are  generally  clean ; 
mine  host,  who  is  often  the  chef,  is  always  extremely 
civil  and  anxious  to  please,  and  the  cooking  is  pass- 
able. In  the  inn  at  Teboursouk  the  cafe  was  the 
only  sitting-room. 

Attracted  by  the  sound  of  a  gramophone,  we  had 
wandered  into  it,  and  found  most  of  the  European 
population  of  the  place,  numbering  perhaps  a  dozen, 
most  of  them  being  French  officers,  assembled  there, 
playing  cards  or  bagatelle  or  drinking  coffee  and 
Hqueurs.  They  were  all  most  orderly  and  quiet.  The 
proprietor's  wife  was  sitting  in  a  corner  of  the  room 
sewing,  and  her  little  girl,  a  pretty  child  of  about 
seven,  evidently  a  great  pet  amongst  them  all,  was 
flitting  about  near  her  mother  and  playing  with  her 
doll. 

So  we  settled  ourselves  at  one  of  the  small  tables 
with  our  books,  asked  for  some  coffee,  and  speculated 
about  the  company  and  their  lives  in  this  queer  place 
in  the  mountains.  How  monotonous  must  be  the 
existence  of  the  few  Europeans !  How  dependent  they 
must  be  upon  each  other  for  society  and  sympathy ! 
Life  would  be  unbearable  for  them  if  they  were  not  all 
friendly  among  themselves ;  unless,  indeed,  fights  and 
quarrels  might  possibly  reheve  the  monotony. 

We  were  feeling  rather  dismal  and  more  than  half 
regretting  the  enterprise,  when  our  host  came  to  tell 
us  that  there  was  to  be  a  special   ceremony  of  the 


430  TWIXT    SAND    AND    SEA 

Aissaouas,  and  that  if  we  cared  to  be  present,  a 
Frenchman,  the  postmaster  of  the  place,  who  was 
going,  would  be  willing  to  pilot  us  there. 

We  welcomed  any  relief  from  the  monotony  with 
joy,  and,  strangely  expectant,  sallied  forth. 

The  rain,  which  to  us  had  proved  so  irksome,  had 
been  much  needed  and  longed  for.  There  is  a  delicious 
freshness  in  the  air  after  the  dryness ;  and  the  full 
moon  is  reflected  in  numberless  little  puddles  upon 
the  rough  ground.  The  narrow  streets  are  lighted 
only  by  the  moon.  Barbaric  music,  the  tom-tom 
and  the  pipe,  the  alluring  sound  that  always  brings 
memories  of  the  Arab  village  after  sunset,  beats 
upon  the  darkness.  As  we  climb  up  the  narrow  tor- 
tous  streets,  stumbUng  over  the  ragged,  uneven  stones, 
now  and  then  a  ghostly  white  figure  passes  us.  You 
hear  the  soft  flap  of  the  loose  slipper  heel  grow  fainter 
and  fainter  as  its  wearer  disappears  into  the  black 
shadow.  The  broken  sound  of  isolated  pipes  and  tom- 
toms becomes  more  insistent  and  more  concentrated. 
A  blaze  of  light  streams  out  into  the  street,  and  we 
have  reached  the  mosque. 

The  moment  we  entered  we  were  impressed  with  the 
solemnity  of  the  scene.  The  room  is  the  annexe  or 
mgalla  of  the  mosque,  and  is  divided  from  it  by  a 
green  wooden  screen.  It  is  a  long,  low  room.  Massive 
pillars  with  beautiful  capitals,  belonging,  doubtless,  to 
the  old  Roman  town  of  Thugga,  support  the  vaulted 
roof. 

The  building  is  flooded  with  an  intense  but  softened 
light  coming  from  two  great  glass  chandeliers  and 
numbers  of  lamps  which  hang  from  the  ceiling.  It  is 
diffused  over  the  white  walls  and  the  white  pillars, 
and  concentrated  upon  the  upturned  faces  of  about 
two  hundred  worshippers,  who  are  seated  upon  the 


"O   BAAL,    HEAR   US"  431 

floor.  Many  of  the  faces  are  solemn  and  grand  and 
even  noble. 

The  room  is  closely  packed  from  wall  to  wall. 
Amongst  the  seated  figures  stands  the  priest,  whose 
office  is  a  hereditary  one.  He  is  a  handsome  old  man, 
with  a  grave  face  betraying  no  emotion — if  indeed  he 
is  capable  of  feeling  any. 

The  French  postmaster  and  ourselves  are  the 
only  Europeans  present.  The  natives  standing  in  a 
crowd  inside  the  door  take  no  notice  of  us  beyond 
just  moving  to  allow  us  to  come  in  and  take  up  our 
positions  so  that  we  are  able  to  see  the  whole  of  the 
room.  The  men  sitting  on  the  floor  do  not  even  glance 
towards  us  as  we  make  our  way  through  and  mingle 
with  the  standing  crowd. 

Presently  there  is  a  slight  movement.  The  service 
is  about  to  begin.  The  men  nearest  the  screen  form 
themselves  into  two  long  lines  facing  each  other. 
A  chafing  dish  containing  hashish  is  lighted  and 
passed  up  and  down  the  lines,  and  a  monotonous 
repetition  of  verses  from  the  Qu'ran  begins.  Over  and 
over  again  the  low,  growling,  muttered,  rhythmical 
measure  rolls  down  the  room.  Now  and  then  the 
voices  are  raised  in  unison,  and  grow  louder.  They 
are  answered  by  a  strange  cry  from  behind  a  grill  at  the 
far  side  of  the  room.  It  is  a  shrill  sound,  tremulous 
and  piercing.  It  is  the  Zagharit,  that  cry  of  Libyan 
origin  which  Herodotus  says  was  heard  also  in  the 
temple  of  Athena.^  The  same  cry  was  uttered  by  the 
Grecian  women  in  their  incantations  to  the  moon,  and 

^  "  I  think,  for  my  part,  that  the  loud  cries  uttered  in  our  sacred  rites  come 
also  from  there"  (Libya),  "  for  the  Libyan  women  are  greatly  given  to  utter- 
ing such  cries,  and  utter  them  very  sweetly."     (Herodotus,  book  iv.  189.) 

These  cries  were  used  solely  in  honour  of  Athene;  they  were  not  howls 
or  cries  of  lamentation,  but  shouts  of  triumph,  (G.  Rawlinson's  Herodotus, 
note  :';/  loc.) 


432  TWIXT   SAND   AND   SEA 

by  the  Libyan  women  in  their  worship  of  Tanith.*  It 
has  the  minghng  sound  of  gurgUng  water,  the  cry  of  a 
night  bird,  and  the  wind.  It  might  be  some  unknown 
spirit  cry  coming  from  another  world.  The  timbre  of 
it  is  so  curiously  haunting  that,  once  heard,  it  will 
never  be  forgotten. 

The  men  upon  the  floor  rearrange  themselves  and 
draw  closer  together.  Now  they  begin  to  beat  the  tom- 
toms, softly  at  first,  then  louder  and  louder  and  louder. 
The  excitement  grows,  until  it  becomes  almost  breath- 
less. The  men  shout,  and  once  more  the  shrill  cry  from 
the  hidden  women  breaks  upon  the  troubled  atmos- 
phere. When  a  measure  is  finished,  the  tom-toms  are 
spun  round  and  tossed  high  up  into  the  air,  then  seized 
again,  and  beaten  louder  than  ever. 

Now  about  thirty  of  the  worshippers,  raising  them- 
selves again  from  the  floor,  place  themselves  in  a  long 
line,  with  their  backs  against  the  wooden  screen,  and 
their  faces  towards  the  musicians  and  the  crowd  upon 
the  floor. 

The  reeling,  maddening  music  of  the  tom-toms  goes 
on,  while  the  standing  men  begin  rhythmically  to  sway 
their  bodies,  bowing  and  bending  forward  till  their 
foreheads  are  even  with  their  knees.  They  move  their 
heads  from  side  to  side  ;  they  stamp  their  feet,  always 
in  unison,  while  intermittently  they  groan  with  a 
sound  that  is  like  the  growl  of  some  wild  beast,  or  the 
rattling  of  stones  upon  the  sea-shore  in  a  storm. 

The  place  seems  to  be  vibrating  with  some  strange, 
unaccountable  emotion,  restless  and  even  appalling — 
as  though  one  held  one's  breath  and  waited.  Then 
suddenly,  from  the  crowd  standing  at  one  end  of  the 
room,  a  man  dashes  out  into  the  space  upon  the  floor 

1  John  B.    Bury,  Journ,  of  Hellen.    Studies,   t.  vii.,  quoted    by   Dr. 
Bertholon. 


"O    BAAL,    HEAR    US"  433 

in  front  of  the  long  line.  He  has  torn  his  turban 
from  his  head  and  thrown  off  his  haik ;  now  he 
is  dressed  only  in  loose  linen  trousers  and  thin  shirt. 
He  dances  about  wildly,  throwing  his  head  backwards 
and  forwards,  tossing  his  long  hair  over  his  face  and 
shoulders.  Then  he  kneels  upon  the  ground  with  up- 
turned face  and  wide-open  mouth.  Two  or  three  men 
appear  to  be  directing  the  movements  of  those  seized 
with  the  frenzy.  One  of  them  drops  a  stone  into  the 
kneeling  man's  open  mouth  ;  this  he  swallows  with 
evident  enjoyment ;  then  follow  a  couple  of  long  nails 
and  some  needles. 

Presently  another  man  dashes  out  of  the  crowd. 
One  of  the  directors  hands  to  him  lighted  sticks,  tied 
together  to  form  a  torch.  He  tears  off  his  shirt 
and  holds  the  blazing  fire  against  his  flesh  !  The 
flames  lick  his  chest  and  neck,  and  flare  up  under 
his  armpits.  Yet  he  is  not  burnt  or  hurt,  or  even 
scorched.  And,  what  seems  to  be  even  more  incredible 
still,  the  shirt,  thin  though  it  is,  which  he  holds  in 
the  flames,  does  not  catch  fire. 

And  all  the  time  the  rhythmical  movements  of  the 
long  row  of  standing  men  and  their  low  muttered 
growls  are  incessant.  The  noise  of  the  bendirs  ^  and 
the  insidious,  bewildering  music  of  the  zarna^  never 
cease.  The  emotion  is  growing  in  strength ;  the  ex- 
citement becomes  painfully  intense.  One  man  after 
another  breaks  out  from  the  line  and  flings  himself  into 
the  middle  of  the  floor,  shaking  and  dancing  and  cry- 
ing with  frenzy.  As  each  man  enters  into  the  frenzied 
condition  some  kind  of  mutilation  or  species  of  strange 
food  seems  to  be  to  him  a  necessity — indeed,  not  only 
a  necessity  but  a  source  of  positive  pleasure.  He  will 
follow  the  director,  who  may  be  too  busy  to  attend 

^  Drums.  '  Pipes. 

2  E 


434  'TWIXT   SAND    AND    SEA 

to  him  at  once,  with  hungry,  beseeching,  half-sleepy 
eyes,  go  down  on  his  knees  even,  begging  like  a  dog, 
until  his  strange  craving  is  satisfied.  When  a  stone 
or  some  broken  glass  perhaps,  or  a  horrible  wriggling 
scorpion,  is  dropped  into  his  open  mouth,  or  a  sharp 
knife  is  run  into  his  flesh,  then  he  is  glad.  He  swallows 
the  one  ;  crunches  up  the  other,  and  drives  and  pushes 
the  steel  into  his  body  with  evident  enjoyment. 

At  one  time  the  excitement  grew  to  such  intensity 
as  to  be  alarming.  The  frenzy  seemed  to  be  spreading 
throughout  the  room.  One  by  one  the  men  from 
the  crowd  standing  round  us  near  the  door  broke 
out.  A  man  who  was  standing  close  to  us  and  re- 
assuring me,  telling  me  that  there  was  nothing  what- 
ever to  fear,  suddenly  began  to  shake  from  head  to 
foot  and  dashed  wildly  out  to  join  the  seething  mass  of 
struggling  men  in  the  middle  of  the  floor. 

The  numbers  presently  became  so  great  that  it  was 
difficult  for  the  director  to  cope  with  them.  As  he 
was  able,  he  seized  each  devotee  round  the  waist, 
and  muttered  some  whispered  words  close  to  his  ear. 
Almost  immediately  the  man  seemed  to  be  released 
from  his  delirium  and  became  once  more  calm  and 
sane.  Each  one  as  he  came  out  of  the  frenzied 
state  passed  into  another  room,  put  on  his  outer 
garments  and  turban  and  reappeared  as  though 
nothing  had  happened. 

Up  to  the  last  the  barbaric  music  continued  with 
unrelaxed  fury.  Up  to  the  last  the  breathless  ex- 
citement increased.  Then  suddenly — it  appears  to 
reach  breaking-point.  The  tension,  which  had  be- 
come almost  unbearable,  is  relaxed.  Something  seems 
to  snap.  There  is  a  moment's  lull.  Then  a  suppressed 
murmur  goes  round  the  outer  crowd,  and  all  is  finished. 

A  great  united  cry  breaks  out  from  the  long  line  of 


"O    BAAL,    HEAR    US"  435 

standing  men,  a  cry  that  has  in  it  a  sound  of  triumph, 
a  Te  Deum  after  a  time  of  terrible  stress,  or  after  a 
battle. 

It  is  very  wonderful  and  very  weird.  As  one  goes 
out  into  the  moonlight  once  more,  and  the  ghostly 
white  figures  of  the  worshippers  overtake  and  pass 
one  in  the  silent  street,  one  is  possessed  with  a  sense 
of  having  been  in  the  presence  of  a  mystery.  The 
explanation  of  it  may  be  a  perfectly  material  one,  but 
nothing  can  take  away  from  the  strange  solemnity  of 
the  scene,  enacted  in  that  little  village  of  Teboursouk 
amongst  the  mountains  of  North  Africa.  The  weird, 
troubled  cry  of  the  hidden  women,  the  barbaric  music, 
the  softly  diffused  light  in  the  whitened  room,  the 
grandeur  of  the  pillars  taken  from  some  pagan  temple, 
the  faces  and  the  picturesque  figures  of  the  seated 
crowd — the  memory  of  it  all  will  never  die  ;  the  sense 
of  that  strange  atmosphere  will  linger  on  with  those 
who  felt  it  as  an  indestructible  impression. 

The  same  kind  of  thing  may  be  witnessed  elsewhere 
in  North  Africa — in  Kairouan  especially.  But  here 
often  tourists  are  present,  and  though  the  worship 
may  be  sincere  enough  in  itself,  the  difference  be- 
tween the  rites  of  the  Aissaouas  as  carried  out  at 
Kairouan  and  at  Teboursouk  strikes  one  as  the  differ- 
ence between  a  fashionable  London  church  and  the 
little  church  amongst  the  fields,  where  the  simple  old 
country  folk  go  to  worship. 

At  Biskra  the  rites  of  the  Aissaouas  have  unhappily 
degenerated  into  a  mere  show  for  visitors.  If  a  certain 
number  of  francs  is  subscribed  at  one  of  the  hotels, 
there  is  no  difficulty  whatever  in  arranging  a  perform- 
ance, but  it  is  just  that — a  performance,  and  nothing 
more.     When  the  rites  are  carried  out  in  this  prosaic — 


436  'TWIXT   SAND    AND    SEA 

one  is  almost  inclined  to  add  vulgar — manner,  they 
are  robbed  of  much  of  their  interest  and  of  all  their 
poetry.  At  Teboursouk,  where  there  are  no  tourists, 
and  hardly  any  Europeans,  it  is  altogether  a  different 
thing.  It  was  really  a  worship,  weird,  and  solemn, 
and  curiously  interesting ;  a  strange  graft  upon 
Islamism,  of  which,  in  common  with  so  many  other 
Mussulman  practices,  there  is  no  mention  at  all  in  the 
Qu'ran. 

In  the  same  manner,  and  under  the  same  myste- 
rious, perhaps  hypnotic,  influence,  the  predecessors  of 
the  Aissaouas — those  belonging  to  the  brotherhood  of 
Hammon  and  Tanith — were  able  to  undergo  mutilations 
which  otherwise  would  have  entailed  intense  suffering. 
So  during  these  rites  of  the  Aissaouas  the  body  may  be 
exposed  to  fire,  some  sharp  instrument  driven  into  the 
flesh,  or  some  presumably  injurious  object  swallowed, 
while  in  some  unexplained  manner  the  nerves  are 
thrown  into  a  state  of  complete  insensibility,  and  there 
appears  to  be  no  after  consciousness  of  pain  or  visible 
wound  to  show  that  any  physical  mutilation  has  taken 
place. 

At  our  hotel  at  Kairouan  the  Arab  whose  duties 
combined  those  of  waiter  and  chambermaid  was  an 
Aissaoua.  We  found  him  simple,  very  much  in 
earnest,  and  ready  to  talk.  He  assured  us  that  he 
experienced  no  pain  or  inconvenience,  and  that  the 
living  scorpions  tasted  like  eggs.  A  boy  who  attached 
himself  to  us,  as  boys  will  in  North  Africa,  told  us 
that  he  was  under  instruction,  but  had  not  yet  been 
initiated. 

Instances  of  a  like  insensibility  to  pain  have  been 
known  amongst  the  devotees  of  other  religions.  When 
Perpetua  was  martyred  at  Carthage  and  had  been  ex- 
posed to  the  horns  of  a  savage  cow,  streaming  with 


M 


"O    BAAL,    HEAR    US"  437 

blood  from  the  wounds  which  the  animal  had  given 
her,  she  was  taken  back  for  a  few  moments  to  her  com- 
panions ;  and  had  not  the  least  idea  that  anything  had 
happened.  When  were  her  tortures  to  begin,  she  asked, 
and  it  was  not  until  she  was  shown  the  blood  upon  her 
body  that  she  became  conscious  of  the  terrible  wounds 
she  had  already  received. 

Instances  of  the  same  kind  of  religious  deUrium 
have  occurred  amongst  the  flagellants  of  the  middle 
ages,  and  even  in  a  small  degree  during  modern  times 
— at  the  time  of  the  recent  revivals  in  Wales.  The 
fact  remains,  although  its  cause  lies  out  of  sight  and 
the  effects  have  been  misinterpreted.  It  is  not  peculiar 
to  any  one  religion,  but  it  exists  and  has  existed  in 
the  cults  of  all  countries  and  of  all  ages. 


CHAPTER  XI 

CAVES  AND  DENS  OF  THE  EARTH 

The  ancients  had  a  vague  knowledge  about  some 
curious  people  who  made  their  dwellings  in  the  depths 
of  the  earth,  some  upon  the  coast  of  the  Red  Sea, 
some  in  the  mountains  to  the  south  of  Fezzan,  others 
in  a  region  near  the  Syrtes.  Old  writers  described 
these  people  as  being  great  hunters,  and  so  swift  that 
they  were  able  to  catch  running  game.  They  were 
said  to  live  upon  the  flesh  of  serpents,  and  lizards,  and 
beetles,  and  to  speak  some  extraordinary  language  that 
was  unlike  that  of  human  beings.  Herodotus  com- 
pared it  to  the  strident  cry  of  a  bat. 

All  these  wonderful  stories  were  discredited,  and 
supposed  to  belong  to  fairy  tales  that  so  often  sur- 
round unknown  countries.  Where  so  much  seemed 
to  be  impossible,  nothing  was  believed  to  be  true. 

But  as  a  matter  of  fact  the  incredulity  was  mis- 
placed. While  further  knowledge  often  proves  much 
that  is  looked  upon  as  true  to  be  only  myth,  it  equally 
often  shows  things  regarded  as  fable  to  be  fact.  So 
it  was  in  the  case  of  the  stories  of  the  underground 
dwellers  told  by  the  old  writers. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century  some 
of  these  people  were  discovered  to  the  south-west  of 
Tripoli.  In  1869,  when  the  French  made  their  way 
through  the  great  mountains  to  the  south-west  of 
Gabes,  they  came  upon  the  Matmatas.  And  the  Trog- 
lodytes of  the  ancients,  robbed,  it  is  true,  of  the  strange 

438 


Cheik's  House  at  Matmata 


CAVES  AND  DENS  OF  THE  EARTH  439 

attributes  with  which  they  had  been  accredited, 
became  an  estabHshed  fact. 

The  region  of  Matmata  is  an  irregular  square, 
bounded  upon  the  north  by  the  territory  of  Gabes, 
and  upon  the  south  by  Medinine,  with  Tatahouine 
lying  to  the  east  and  Kabylia  to  the  west.  The  road 
rises  from  Gabes  for  some  miles  by  easy  ascents, 
cut  here  and  there  by  the  courses  of  little  streams, 
marked  by  lines  of  verdure  and  scattered  palm-trees. 
As  you  climb  higher,  the  country  becomes  more  deso- 
late, and  the  ground  more  broken  and  stony.  Now  and 
then  a  patch  of  green  barley  relieves  the  eye,  perhaps 
a  fig-tree  or  two  or  three  olives,  deep  down  in  a  hollow 
which  has  been  worn  by  the  winter  torrents.  But  the 
general  impression  is  desolation — rocks,  and  stones, 
and  barrenness. 

The  road,  no  longer  straight,  winds  on  in  and  out 
among  the  rough  spurs  of  hill;  sometimes  it  is  cut 
out  of  the  sheer  rock  ;  sometimes  it  is  covered  with 
sand  so  deep  that  it  is  difficult  even  for  a  powerful 
motor  to  plough  its  way  through.  Still  on,  round 
the  shoulder  of  the  mountain,  with  the  road  that  has 
yet  to  be  traversed,  visible  upon  a  higher  level.  The 
distant  horizon  is  hidden.  At  last,  at  a  height  of 
1200  feet,  a  vast  upland  plain,  lying  within  a  circle 
of  mountains,  is  reached,  and  the  great  village  of 
Bled  Kebira  lies  before  us. 

Our  journey  is  not  yet  ended,  but  the  rest  of  it 
must  be  made  on  foot.  Above,  some  500  feet  higher, 
lies  the  Djebel  Matmata,  its  flanks  covered  with  great, 
broken  rocks  and  rough  shale,  amongst  which  a  little 
wiry  grass  and  a  few  scrubby  bushes  just  manage  to 
keep  alive.  A  long,  tiring  climb  over  abrupt  heights 
and  large  terraces,  brings  us  to  the  precipice  of  sheer 
rock  surrounding  the  summit  of  the  mountain.     All 


440  'TWIXT    SAND    AND    SEA 

round  are  a  series  of  earthworks,  holes  of  three  feet 
deep,  sheltered  by  bastions  at  the  salient  angles. 

If  this  has  been  a  climb,  now  there  comes  a 
scramble  ;  for  the  precipice  is  only  accessible  here  and 
there,  where  clefts  have  been  formed  in  the  splintered 
crags,  but  at  last  the  top  is  reached,  and  the  scattered 
ruins  of  the  old  Qager  or  fortified  village  Gelaa  Mat- 
mata,  where  once  upon  a  time  the  tormented  and 
persecuted  Berber  tribes  sought  refuge  from  their 
enemies,  and  by  almost  superhuman  effort  preserved 
their  existence. 

The  natives  of  Tripoli  from  time  immemorial  have 
been  robbers  and  marauders,  and  a  terror  to  the 
more  sedentary  people  of  the  adjacent  country.  The 
people  in  the  country  of  the  Syrtes,  south  of  Gabes, 
have  always  suffered  from  their  incursions.  As  soon 
as  the  Matmatas  began  to  flourish,  when  their  flocks 
were  pasturing,  and  their  trees  full  of  fruit,  these  pil- 
laging hordes  swooped  down  upon  them,  destroyed  all 
cultivation,  and  carried  off  everything  that  was  valu- 
able ;  including  even,  whenever  they  got  the  chance, 
the  people  themselves. 

Tripoli  has  always  been  one  of  the  great  markets 
for  slaves — Tunis  and  Tangier  were  supplied  from  this 
source.  To  escape  capture,  the  unfortunate  Matmatas 
were  driven  to  seek  refuge  upon  the  tops  of  the  most 
inaccessible  mountains.  There  they  made  barricades 
upon  a  narrow  plateau,  where  it  was  possible  for  a 
handful  of  men,  perhaps,  to  defend  themselves  against 
a  hundred.  There  they  made  a  little  fortified  village. 
The  manner  in  which  they  maintained  life  and  sup- 
plied themselves  with  provisions  remains  a  marvel 
and  a  mystery.  But  the  Matmata  were  pure  Ber- 
bers, of  the  tribe,  it  is  thought,  of   Djabaliya,^  and 

1  M.  Peltier. 


CAVES    AND    DENS    OF    THE    EARTH    441 

a  fine  race,  possessed  of  extraordinary  tenacity  and 
power  of  resistance.  The  name  of  Kahena,  the  Berber 
Joan  of  Arc,  is  associated  with  them.  The  Matmatas 
themselves  claim  to  have  been  brought  to  this  in- 
accessible and  mountainous  region  by  the  wonderful 
woman  who  led  the  Berbers  against  the  Mohammedan 
invasion.  One  is  almost  inclined  to  suppose  that 
the  Matmata  settlement  must  belong  to  an  earlier 
date  ;  but  there  is  no  reason  to  doubt  the  story  of 
Kahena's  presence  amongst  the  Matmata  mountains, 
or  the  probabihty  of  her  having  helped  the  Berbers  of 
that  part  of  the  country  to  resist  the  Arabs.  For  she 
was  not  far  off  when  she  entrenched  herself  at  El 
Djem  against  the  forces  of  Sidi  Okba.  The  story, 
at  any  rate,  is  invested  with  a  romance  that  fitly 
surrounds  the  interesting  people  who  live  in  this 
wonderful  part  of  the  country. 

It  is,  indeed,  possible  to  believe  any  romantic  story 
told  of  the  Matmatas  as  one  stands  upon  the  summit 
of  the  great  peak,  amid  the  ruins  of  their  fortified 
village.  Amongst  the  broken  stones  and  huge  blocks 
of  rock,  numberless  little  plants  of  sweet-scented 
herbs  have  taken  root — wild  thyme,  with  its  sweet 
purple  blossoms,  marjoram,  and  "old  man."  Their 
homely  presence  redeems  the  scene  from  the  sense 
of  utter  desolation. 

All  around  lie  the  Djebel  Matmata,  wild  and  savage 
and  silent.  Here  and  there  a  great  rocky  height,  like 
the  one  we  are  standing  upon,  rises  up  in  isolated 
grandeur.  Far  away,  is  the  blue  line  of  the  sea,  with 
the  country  lying  betw^een  the  Gelaa  Matmata  and  the 
coast,  spread  out  like  the  raised  model  of  a  map.  To 
the  south  lie  the  valley,  a  great  plain  surrounded  by 
mountains,  and  the  populous  village  of  Bled  Kebira. 
The  effect  of  the  village  from  the  top  of  the  mountain 


442  'TWIXT   SAND    AND    SEA 

is  most  curious.  There  is  no  sign  of  dwelling,  but  the 
ground  has  the  appearance  of  being  riddled  with  gravel- 
pits  or  gigantic  rabbit-holes. 

Here  it  was  that  the  Matmata  people  entrenched 
themselves,  when  at  last,  tired  of  an  impossible  kind 
of  existence  upon  the  mountain-top,  they  decided  to 
seek  the  protection  of  their  enemies,  the  nomad  tribes. 
The  robbers  accepted  the  suzerainty.  So  little  by  little 
the  persecuted  people  came  down  from  their  eeries 
and  dug  themselves  dwellings  in  the  thick  deposit 
which  the  rains  had  accumulated  in  the  valley.  For 
defence  was  still  necessary  ;  their  industry,  and  the 
way  in  which  they  cultivated  the  land  and  raised  large 
flocks  of  sheep  and  goats,  made  them  the  constant  prey 
of  marauding  hordes.  It  was  not  until  the  French 
came  that  they  were  able  at  last  to  dwell  in  any  degree 
of  peace. 

That  they  have  a  desire  for  a  settled  abode,  and  the 
love  of  peace,  is  shown  not  only  by  the  extraordinary 
tenacity  with  which  they  clung  to  the  soil,  but  by  the 
evident  pride  that  they  have  in  their  queer  under- 
ground dwellings,  now  that  they  have  them.  They 
are  of  the  same  form  as  the  classic  Arab  house,  with  its 
interior  court  surrounded  by  buildings.  The  fact  that 
the  house  happens  to  be  under  the  earth,  instead  of 
upon  its  surface,  is  a  mere  matter  of  detail,  the  result 
of  circumstances  ;  but  it  is  a  fact  that  lends  a  quaint 
unusualness,  difficult  to  describe,  to  the  village  of  Bled 
Kebira. 

The  dwelling  of  the  Cheikh  of  the  village,  to  whom 
we  had  an  introduction,  was  a  specimen  of  all  the 
rest,  except  that  it  was  larger  and  more  decorated; 
the  description  of  this  one  is  no  doubt  the  description 
of  them  all. 

An   entrance   in  the  ground  leads  into  a  tunnel- 


CAVES  AND  DENS  OF  THE  EARTH  443 

shaped  entrance  hall,  the  roof  of  which  is  plastered,  and 
divided  by  sculptured  cords  into  lozenge-shaped  divi- 
sions. Bas-reliefs  of  hands  and  feet  are  formed  in  the 
plaster,  which  are  decorative  in  a  curious  fashion,  and 
are  survivals  doubtless  of  an  early  religious  cult. 

Through  this  hall  the  courtyard,  which  is  sur- 
rounded by  the  house,  is  entered.  The  scene  upon 
which  we  came  was  quite  patriarchal.  Three  families, 
having  between  them  fifteen  children,  live  in  this  dwell- 
ing. In  the  centre  of  the  courtyard  are  collected  the 
flocks  of  the  inhabitants,  the  black  goats  and  kids, 
which  had  been  brought  home  for  the  night.  In  one 
corner  of  the  courtyard,  shyly  awaiting  the  visit  of 
the  strangers,  all  the  children  are  grouped.  There  are 
some  beautiful  little  girls  among  them,  with  fair  olive 
skins,  oval  faces,  and  great  soft,  velvety  eyes,  and  the 
irresistible  grace  of  movement  of  the  young  wild 
animal.  The  Cheikh's  little  daughter  of  about  seven 
years  old  is  especially  dehghtful.  She  is  full  of  simple, 
unconscious  dignity  and  charm.  The  women  of  the 
respective  families  have  hidden  themselves  in  one  of 
the  rooms  ;  they  are  not  visible  to  the  male  stranger, 
but  are  quite  ready  to  be  friendly,  with  a  pretty 
frightened  grace,  to  a  visitor  of  their  own  sex.  Catch- 
ing up  their  babies  in  their  arms,  they  all  crowded 
round  and  examined  my  clothes  and  trinkets  with  the 
greatest  interest. 

The  rooms  of  these  strange  underground  dwellings 
are  all  vaulted  and  tunnel-shaped.  It  is  the  form  of 
the  ancient  boat-shaped  mapalia  in  use  among  the 
natives  which  Sallust  speaks  of  in  his  account  of  the 
war  with  Jugurtha.  The  same  shape  is  still  seen  in 
the  tents,  either  covered  with  camel's-hair  cloth  or 
roofed  over  with  palm-leaves  or  dried  grass,  of  the 
Bedouins.    The  ksours,  the  strange  dwellings  of  Medi- 


444  'TWIXT    SAND    AND    SEA 

nine  and  Metameurs,  of  which  I  shall  speak  presently, 
preserve  the  same  form. 

The  centre  of  a  Matmatan  room  is  occupied  by 
a  large  rough  loom,  upon  which  the  women,  and  even 
the  children,  work.  All  round  the  wall,  in  holes  cut  in 
the  rock,  into  which  they  fit,  stand  great  jars  of  pottery, 
recalling  the  Roman  amphora,  of  different  shapes  and 
sizes.  Sometimes  they  are  made  of  halfa  grass.  They 
hold  the  oil  or  grain,  which  is  lowered  into  the  room 
through  a  hole  in  the  roof.  A  large  picturesque  bed- 
stead stands  at  one  end  of  the  room  ;  the  posts  stuck 
into  the  ground,  at  the  head  and  sides  of  the  bed, 
are  fashioned  into  a  sort  of  arcade  design,  by  being 
covered  with  cement,  which  is  then  faced  with  white 
plaster.  The  wall  at  the  end  of  the  room,  facing 
the  door,  is  adorned  with  all  manner  of  curious  orna- 
ments— curious  only  because  they  are  so  familiar. 
One  looks  for  some  sign  of  native  workmanship,  for 
anything  really  interesting  amongst  these  treasures. 
But  one  looks  in  vain  ;  these  articles  are  treasured 
because  they  are  foreign,  and  therefore,  to  the 
Matmata  people,  of  course  rare  and  valuable. 

The  wall  of  this  queer  vaulted  room,  dug  out  of 
the  ground,  and  more  than  250  miles  from  a  railway 
station,  is  decorated  with  all  manner  of  trivial  Euro- 
pean odds  and  ends — about  a  dozen  little  penny 
looking-glasses  of  obviously  German  manufacture ; 
a  few  china  plates  of  a  common  French  pattern ; 
some  of  the  ordinary  yellow  pottery,  which  abounds 
in  North  Africa,  and  has  nothing  distinctive  about  it. 
There  is  even  an  empty  Colman's  mustard  tin  and  a 
sardine  box  amongst  the  collection.  They  have  been 
cast  out  perhaps  from  the  French  fort  upon  the  height 
near  by. 

All  these  queer  things  are  prized  and  arranged  with 


CAVES    AND    DENS    OF    THE    EARTH    445 

real  artistic  feeling.  This  sense  is  so  often  shown  in 
the  cottages  of  an  Enghsh  village — the  reaching  after 
beauty,  the  genuine  taste,  the  hoarding  of  simple 
things.  But  nowhere  could  more  real  artistic  feeling 
be  displayed,  or  a  more  absolute  pride  and  love  of 
the  home,  that  characteristic  which  is  looked  upon 
as  one  of  the  signs  of  civilisation,  than  amongst  the 
Matmatas  living  in  the  bowels  of  the  earth,  in  the 
village  of  Bled  Kebira. 

A  glimpse  of  the  life  of  these  interesting  people 
makes  one  long  to  dig  deep  in  search  of  those  valuable 
and  precious  survivals  of  undying  primitive  beliefs 
which  must  surely  exist.  Islamism,  it  is  true,  is 
amongst  them  ;  it  has  been  driven  through  the  moun- 
tains at  the  point  of  the  sword.  The  present  sign  of 
its  existence  is  a  white  mosque  of  entirely  mushroom 
growth.  It  was  put  up  by  the  French,  and  not  by 
the  Matmatas  themselves,  and  looks  utterly  out  of 
place.  Until  quite  lately  it  was  the  only  building 
above  the  ground  at  Bled  Kebira.  The  desolate 
country  lying  round  it  may  well  raise  a  wonder 
where  the  worshippers  are  to  come  from ;  and  when 
the  white-robed  figures  emerge  from  the  earth  at  the 
hour  of  prayer,  as  some  one  has  said,  the  scene  might 
suggest  a  picture  of  the  Day  of  Judgment.  It  has 
also  been  remarked  with  truth,  that  at  Bled  Kebira 
it  is  the  living  who  occupy  the  real  sepulchres, 
while  the  dead  are  nearer  the  surface.  For,  like 
the  Arabs,  the  Matmatas  bury  their  dead  in  no  depth 
of  soil. 

A  few  little  upright  tombstones  with  familiar 
symbols  upon  them  have  already  grown  up  round  the 
mosque,  while  near  to  the  graves  of  those  to  whom  time 
no  longer  means  anything,  a  sun-dial  of  primitive 
design  stands  silently  marking  the  hours.     Upon   a 


446  'TWIXT   SAND    AND   SEA 

pillar  of  stones  is  laid  a  flat  slab,  upon  this  rests  a 
wedge-shaped  stone,  round  which  are  carved  rude 
numbers.  It  is  one  of  the  most  primitive,  but  only 
one  of  the  many,  forms  of  sun-dials  to  be  found 
in  North  Africa. 

Towards  the  south-east  of  Matmata  and  nearer  to 
the  coast  lies  that  part  of  Tunisia  called  by  the  Arabs 
the  Great  Pro\dnce,  a  remote  and  desolate  country, 
full  of  vast  naked  spaces  of  mournful  colouring.  The 
Roman  writers,  Pliny  and  Sallust,  say  that  these 
regions  were  once  covered  with  trees.  This  statement 
may  be  an  exaggerated  one  ;  however.  Captain  Lebouf , 
who  has  studied  this  part  of  the  country  and  made 
interesting  research,  says  that  probably  owing  to  the 
wonderful  work  of  the  Romans,  and  perhaps  that  of 
the  Berbers  themselves,  under  the  influence  of  the 
Romans,  the  Great  Province  was  certainly  at  one  time 
far  more  fertile  and  prosperous  than  it  is  to-day. 

The  Romans  never  occupied  the  extreme  south  of 
Tunisia,  but  subdued  the  inhabitants  and  established 
military  settlements  amongst  them.  When  they  first 
came  to  this  region  they  found  a  warlike  and  wandering 
tribe,  with  nevertheless  the  capabilities  of  a  settled 
people.  To  these  people  they  gave  protection  and 
the  moral  force  of  association. 

The  Berbers  were  adaptable  and  imitative.  Under 
the  intellectual  influence  of  the  Romans,  although  the 
conquerors  were  only  present  in  very  small  numbers, 
they  soon  learned  how  to  cultivate  the  land.  They 
learned  also  how  to  save  the  water,  and  how  to  make 
the  barren  soil  fertile. 

But  this  did  not  last.  The  Romans  left,  and  the 
peaceful  industrious  Berbers  once  more  fell  a  prey 
to  marauding  tribes.     First  came  the  Vandals,  who, 


CAVES    AND    DENS    OF   THE    EARTH    447 

instead   of   being   civilising   conquerors   as   were   the 

Romans,  and  as  are  the  French  at  the  present  time, 

only  came  to  pillage  and  destroy.     It  was  the  same 

!  with  the   Arabs   later  on ;    and    besides,   there  were 

j  always  the  robbers  of  the  Tripoli  coast  to  be  feared 

and  to  fight  against.     And  gradually,  as  in  the  case 

!  of  the  Matmatas,  the  people  of  the  Great  Province 

'  found  it  necessary  to  associate  themselves  with  the 

'  marauding  tribes  and  to  pay  them  tribute. 

j        The  struggle  for  life  was  unceasing.     Tribal  wars 

!  and  the  inroads  of  robbers  were  incessant.     Defence, 

and  that   a  strenuous  one,  has   always  been   found 

I  necessary.     Only  since  the  coming  of  the  French  have 

I  Medinine  and  Metameur  been  at  peace  and  safe  from 

j  the  incursions  of  their  enemies.      So  here  again  we 

j  find  that   an  ingenious   means   of   defence  has  been 

I  resorted  to. 

'         Medinine    and    Metameur    are    fortified    villages, 
:   different  indeed  from  the  Matmata  ones,  but  equally 
quaint  and  equally  interesting. 

It  is  difficult  for  us  who  live  in  peace  and  security 
to  realise  a  state  of  things  which  makes  a  desperate 
struggle  for  actual  existence  necessary — to  feel  at 
night  that  the  dwelling  must  be  absolutely  proof 
against  attack,  otherwise  there  might  be  small  chance 
of  the  inmates  being  alive  in  the  morning.  The  in- 
genuity of  the  primitive  was  often  severely  taxed  to 
invent  means  for  the  preservation  of  his  existence. 
The  curious  villages  of  Medinine  and  Metameur,  as 
well  as  those  of  the  Matmata,  are  survivals  of  his 
devices. 

The  only  point  of  resemblance  between  the  fortified 
village  of  Bled  Kebira  and  the  villages  of  Metameur 
and  Medinine,  lying  close  to  the  Tripoli  border,  is  the 
shape  of  the  houses,  or  rhorfa^  as  they  are  called.     It 


448  'TWIXT    SAND   AND    SEA 

is  difficult  to  describe  the  weird  effect  produced  as 
one  enters  the  two  latter  villages.  When  the  first 
glimpse  is  caught  of  their  strange  dwellings,  one  is 
inclined  to  shake  oneself,  and  wonder  whether  one  is 
really  awake. 

For,  in  common  with  so  many  in  North  Africa, 
this  scene  might  well  belong  to  some  strange  dream. 
Each  house  of  the  village  consists  of  a  barrelled 
vault  about  eight  feet  wide,  eight  feet  high,  and  about 
twenty  feet  long  inside.  The  dividing  walls  of  a  row  of 
houses  are  carried  up,  and  another  row  of  similar 
vaults  built  upon  the  top,  then  another,  and  another, 
and  another  ;  until  sometimes  the  building  rises  to 
the  height  of  five  houses.  There  are  no  windows. 
The  house  is  entered  by  a  heavy  door,  not  more  than 
two  feet  in  width  and  three  feet  six  inches  in  height. 
This  door  is  fastened  upon  the  inside  by  a  great  wooden 
bar  ;  so  the  inmates  are  as  snug  and  safe  as  rabbits 
in  a  hole. 

When  they  come  out  of  the  house  their  mode  of 
securing  the  safety  of  their  abode  is  a  most  curious 
one.  The  door  is  pulled  to  from  outside.  To  the  right 
of  the  door,  and  at  a  distance  of  two  or  three  feet  from  it, 
is  a  hole  in  the  wall ;  through  this  the  arm  is  pushed, 
the  key  being  held  in  the  hand.  This  key  is  a  long 
piece  of  wood,  fitted  with  pegs  which  correspond  with 
holes  on  the  end  of  the  bolt.  The  pegs  drop  into  the 
holes,  and  thus  the  bolt  is  pulled  forward  or  pushed 
back  to  fasten  or  open  the  door.  This  is  the  "  Key  of 
David,"  which,  in  the  terse  words  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, it  is  said  Isaiah  the  prophet  saw  resting  upon 
the  shoulder  of  Eliakim,  the  son  of  Hilkiah,  that 
"  he  might  open,  and  none  shall  shut,  and  shut  and 
none  shall  open." 

When  all  is  made  safe,  the  owner  of  the  house 


CAVES    AND    DENS    OF    THE    EARTH    449 

climbs  down  the  face  of  the  wall  simply  by  means  of  a 
projecting  stone  stuck  in  here  and  there.     Occasion- 
ally, but  not  very  often,  rude  steps  are  made  in  the 
cement  of  the  wall.     In  any  case,  the  descent  of  an 
inhabitant  of  a  rhorfa  from  his  door  to  the  ground  is 
a  real  acrobatic  feat — a  more  difficult  one  than  can  be 
guessed  even  by  an  active  Englishman  until  he  has 
actually  tried   to   perform    it    himself.     The    owner 
having  descended,  the  quaint  key  is  borne  away  over 
j  his   shoulder.     He  starts   off  for  a  tramp,  perhaps, 
I  across  the  desert,  secure  in  the  knowledge  that  his 
goods    are    safe,   for    he    has    shut    and    "  none    can 
I  open." 

!        The  villages  of  Medinine  and  Metameur  lie  within 

'  a  short  distance  of  each  other ;  they  differ  merely  in 

respect  of  size  and  population.     Medinine  is  a  large 

village,    consisting    of    about    two    thousand    rhor/a, 

'  closely  packed  together  in  rows  and  squares.     Close 

by  are  the   French  barracks,  in  which   is  quartered 

the  large  garrison   necessary  to  protect  this  district 

from  invasion  from  the  Tripoli  frontier.     Now  at  last 

the  people  of  these  lonely  and  remote  villages  are 

'  safe  from  the  terrors  of  robbery  and  murder — free  to 

tend  and  raise  their  flocks,  reap  and  sow,  and  plant 

their  palms  and  figs  and  olives. 

j       Towards  all  these  industries  the  French  are  giving 

\  a   great    impulse,   not    only  lending    encouragement, 

but  also  practical  help.     The  Direction  d' Agriculture 

gives  to  the  people,  both  of  Medinine  and  Metameur, 

and  also  to  those  of  the  Matmata  villages,  good  speci- 

'  mens  of  fruit  trees.      To  this  gift  they  add  lessons 

:  as  to  their  culture,  and  offer  prizes  for  the  best  results. 

Thus  they  are  doing  exactly  the  same  work  that  the 

Romans  did  in  the  same  region  before  them. 

As  one   walks   about   in   the   strange   villages   of 

2  F 


450  TWIXT   SAND    AND   SEA 

Metameur  or  Medinine  the  unfamiliar  atmosphere  of 
a  dream  still  seems  to  cling  to  one.  It  is  difficult  to 
dispel  it.  Especially  one  feels  this  as^  bent  almost 
double,  one  creeps  into  the  little  fortress  in  the  centre 
of  Metameur.  Although,  as  I  have  said,  thanks  to 
the  French,  the  meaning  of,  and  necessity  for,  the 
fortress  are  things  of  the  past,  it  still  remains,  and  the 
quaint  houses  of  which  it  is  formed  are  still  inhabited. 
As  none  of  the  houses  have  windows,  the  outside  of 
the  square  is  a  blank  wall  of  rough  stone.  This 
was  the  Qacer  of  Metameur,  and  it  was  absolutely 
impregnable. 

Necessity  is  the  mother  of  invention.  No  better 
illustration  of  the  trite  old  proverb  could  be  found 
than  the  fortress  at  Metameur.  Dire,  indeed,  must 
have  been  the  necessity  which  produced  such  ingenuity 
of  defence.  When  the  inhabitants  of  the  village 
were  forced  to  seek  refuge  in  their  marvellous  little 
stronghold,  they  were  in  fear  of  their  lives,  and  suffer- 
ing from  a  very  furnace  of  storm  and  stress.  When 
they  had  crawled,  almost  upon  all  fours,  through  that 
low  tunnel-shaped  entrance,  they  found  themselves 
in  a  small  square  of  about  sixty  feet  each  way.  In 
the  centre  stands  a  little  booth  made  of  palm  branches 
that  forms  the  common  kitchen  of  the  inhabitants. 
Upon  all  four  sides,  piled  up  above  one  another  to  the 
height  of  five  or  six  storeys,  rise  the  strange  barrel- 
shaped  dwellings.  The  projecting  stones  by  which 
alone  the  upper  ones  can  be  reached  are  more  rare, 
and  farther  apart  than  ever.  A  native  boy  who  had 
attached  himself  to  us  in  a  friendly  manner,  as  our 
guide,  scrambled  up  to  the  top  like  a  monkey,  and 
explained  that  women  were  not  expected  to  climb 
above  the  fourth  storey.^ 

The  higher  portions  of  the  buildings  are  now  only  used  as  store-houses. 


Qacer  at  AIetameur 


I( 


'!         CAVES    AND    DENS    OF    THE    EARTH    451 

In  these  queer  villages  of  Metameur  and  Medinine 
one  is  very  near  to  the  beginning  of  things.     Here  may 
be  seen  many  instances  of  the  simple  and  early  forms 
from  which  the  later  and  complicated  machines  and 
I  methods   of  civilisation   have  been   evolved   and   de- 
veloped.    The  first  tier  of  houses  in  many  cases  is 
I  used  for  workshops.     In  these  barrel-shaped,  cave-like 
i  rooms  all  kinds  of  workmen  are  engaged. 

A   boy  blacksmith,  squatting   upon   the   floor,  is 
jl  forging  a  nail  or  spike  with  the  most  elementary  pair 
j:  of  bellows,   made   simply  of  two   rough  hairy  skins 
'  joined  together  by  a  couple  of  sticks,  and  forming  an 
I  oval-shaped  mouth.     He  blows  a  fire  that  is  burning 
!  upon  stones,  on  the  floor.     In  another  of  these  cave- 
1'  like  rooms,  almost  in  the  dark,  a  man  is  working  upon 
I  a  loom  made  of  rough  poles  fastened  together.     All 
I  round  the  walls  hang  great  hanks  of  white  wool  ready 
'  for  weaving  and  dyeing — let  us  hope  with  vegetable 
i  dyes  of  home  manufacture.     The  use  of  these  is  be- 
coming very  rare.     The  aniline  dyes  of  foreign  com- 
merce have  found  their  way  even  into  the  remote 
villages  of  North  Africa.      They   are  much  cheaper 
:  and  less  precarious,  and  the  natives  have  taken  to  them 
;  in  the  most  regrettable  manner.     The  French,  how- 
ever, having  realised  the  pity  and  the  mistake  of  the 
practice,  have   established,  in  Tunis  and   elsewhere, 
schools  of  weaving,  where  only  vegetable  dyes  are 
used — the  gorgeous  yellow   made   from   cedar   roots, 
the  red  of  the  pomegranate,  and  many  others.    The 
production  of  these  colours  is  an  expensive  process, 
and  an  uncertain  one,  and  cannot  therefore  be  used 
generally,  but,  at  any  rate,  the  art  of  making  them  will 
not  be  lost. 

In  the  remote  regions  of  North  Africa,  such  as 
Metameur  and  Medinine,  one  realises  the  beauty  of 


452  TWIXT    SAND   AND    SEA 

elementary  handicraft.    The  women   and  girls  walk; 
about    with    distaffs    and    little    weaving    machines  i 
made  by  themselves  in  rough  wood,  or  by  tying  to-l 
gether  a  few  sticks.     Here,  if  you  will,  you  may  watch ! 
the  growth  and  manufacture  of  some  beautiful  thing, 
from  the  time  that  the  animal  whose  skin  is  to  be  used 
is  alive,  and  running  about  the  village,  to  the  final 
touch.     A  good  deal  of  leather- work  is  done  in  Medi- 
nine.     In  many  of  the  little  cave-shaped  shops  men 
are  sitting  upon  the  floor,  making  shoes,  or  purses,  or 
bags  of  goatskin,  and  embroidering  them  with  bright- 
coloured  silks  and  narrow  strands  of  white  kid.     A 
little  farther  on  the  skins  are  being  prepared.     Heaps 
of  them  are  lying  about  on  the  ground,  some  with  the 
hair  taken  off,  some  with  it  still  left  on. 

In  the  little  square  in  the  middle  of  the  village, 
amongst  the  heads  and  skins  of  those  who  have 
already  been  sacrificed,  lie  the  poor  live  doomed 
animals,  whose  turn  is  to  come  next.  One  by  one 
they  are  carried  away  upon  the  shoulders  of  a  man, 
in  the  Oriental  fashion  made  so  familiar  to  us  by 
pictures  of  the  Good  Shepherd.  A  few  minutes  later, 
back  comes  the  skin  of  the  little  victim.  It  is  a 
horrible  and  a  barbarous  sight,  and  one  which  we 
could  very  well  dispense  with.  Interesting,  but  not 
a  much  more  pleasant  sight,  was  the  surgical  opera- 
tion which  I  saw  being  carried  on  outside  a  house  in 
one  of  the  squares  of  weird,  tunnel-shaped  houses  at 
Medinine.  Sitting  upon  the  ground  was  a  little  group 
of  people.  In  the  middle  of  it  a  handsome  young 
woman  was  being  bled  by  a  native  doctor.  When  the 
operation  was  finished,  he  bound  up  the  arm  of  his 
patient  with  a  piece  of  blue  stuff,  gathered  together  his 
collection  of  little  pans,  some  of  them  being  of  that 
shape  familiar  to  us  in  the  sign  of  the  barber's  shop. 


CAVES    AND    DENS    OF   THE    EARTH    453 

and  his  lancet,  which  was  an  ordinary  native  knife, 
and  prepared  to  depart.  The  young  woman  got  up 
and  walked  into  the  house  with  a  smile  upon  her 
face,  and  sat  down  just  inside  her  door  to  talk  the 
matter  over  with  her  feminine  friends.  Her  husband 
came  up,  and,  after  a  few  words  with  the  doctor,  pre- 
sented him  with  the  fee  of  twopence,  which  he  had 
extracted  from  the  hood  of  his  burnous.  The  blood 
in  the  basin  was  then  carefully  buried  by  the  husband 
in  the  sandy  soil  of  the  square.  And  the  doctor  de- 
parted, doubtless  to  operate  upon  another  patient 
elsewhere  in  the  village. 

Bleeding  and  burning  are  the  favourite  remedies 
of  the  native  North  x\frican  doctor.  The  latter  especi- 
ally is  an  unfaiHng  panacea  for  the  ills  of  both  men  and 
beasts.  ''  Here  is  the  doctor  who  tends.  The  cure 
comes  from  God."  The  cry  of  the  Berber  operator  is, 
judging  from  the  painful  sights  that  meet  the  eye,  a 
very  constant  one.  Surgical  operations  seem  to  be 
as  frequent  in  North  Africa  as  at  the  present  time 
they  have  become  in  Europe,  judging  by  the  con- 
tinual sight  that  is  seen  of  some  wretched  horse 
or  camel  whose  flesh  has  been  deeply  seared  by 
the  recent  application  of  the  hot  iron,  and  the 
children  whose  heads  or  faces  are  burnt  in  the  same 
way. 

Cauterisations  are  often  made  by  the  blacksmith, 
who   is   regarded  as   a    magician,^  and   this   for    the 

^  The  farriers  of  the  Arabs  inhabiting  the  oases  of  the  Great  Sahara 
Desert  are  exempt  from  taxes  and  enjoy  numerous  privileges.  Of  these, 
the  most  important  and  striking,  as  showing  the  honour  accorded  to  the 
men  of  this  craft,  is  the  following  :  When  in  the  battlefield  a  mounted 
farrier  is  hard  pressed  by  enemies,  he  runs  the  risk  of  being  killed  so  long 
as  he  remains  on  his  horse  with  weapons  in  his  hand.  But  if  he  alights, 
kneels  down,  and  with  the  corners  of  his  hooded  cloak  or  burnous  imitates 
the  movements  of  a  pair  of  bellows,  thus  revealing  his  profession,  his  life  is 
spared.     (E.  Daumas,  The  Horses  of  the  Sahara.) 


454  'TWIXT   SAND   AND    SEA 

reason  that  the  metal  in  which  he  works  is  regarded 
with  awe  and  reverence.  In  primitive  times  the  origin 
of  metal-working  was  imputed  to  divine  beings,  who 
were  thought  also  to  be  the  source  of  the  skill 
acquired  by  men.  Hence  all  metal-workers  were 
raised  above  the  level  of  ordinary  mortals.  The 
blacksmith  is  a  worker  in  iron,  and  the  belief  in 
the  magical  properties  of  iron^  dates  from  the  very 
earliest  times,  when  iron  was  still  a  novelty,  and  as 
such  was  viewed  by  many  with  suspicion  and  dis- 
trust.^ The  use  of  it  was  frequently  forbidden  because 
it  was  thought  to  be  obnoxious  to  the  spirits,  and  for 
this  reason  it  was  expected  to  bring  ill-luck.  Iron 
tools  of  any  description  whatsoever  were  prohibited 
in  the  making  of  an  altar.  "  For  if  thou  lift  up  thy 
tool  upon  it,  thou  hast  polluted  it."  ^  Over  and  over 
again  in  the  Old  Testament,  this  prohibition  is  re- 
peated. When  the  Temple  was  built,  all  the  stones 
were  prepared  elsewhere,  so  that  upon  the  spot  there 
was  ''  neither  hammer,  nor  axe,  nor  any  tool  of  iron 
heard  in  the  house  while  it  was  in  building." 

The  famous  and  sacred  wooden  bridge,  the  only 
one  at  that  time  in  Rome,  the  Pons  Sublicius,  near  the 
Aventine,  was  made  and  kept  in  repair  without  the  use 
of  iron  or  bronze.  This  was  the  bridge  that  Horatius 
Codes,  one  of  the  famous  three,  held  against  Lars 
Porsena,  the  Etruscan.     The  absence  of  metal  in  the 

^  Iron  was  discovered  later  than  copper  or  tin.  This  fact  is  stated 
by  Hesiod,  who  is  supposed  to  have  written  about  900  B.C.,  during  the 
transition  between  the  bronze  and  iron  ages,  and  is  the  oldest  European 
writer  known  to  us.  There  is  evidence  in  papyrus  to  show  that  iron  was 
known  and  appreciated  in  Egypt  1600  B.C.     (F.  Wallis  Budge.) 

^  The  Egyptian  historian,  Manetho,  who  wrote  about  275  B.C.,  and  who 
has  been  translated  by  M.  Laisnel  de  la  Salle,  says  that  iron  was  called  in 
Egypt  the  Bone  of  Typhon  or  Devil's  Bone  ;  Typhon  in  Egyptian  mythology 
being  the  personification  of  evil. 

'  Exodus  XX.  25. 


^ 

UH 

^^ 

'■■*«ir.  ' 

iMB 

^■^Hb^ !».  ^  w9 

TBW/^ 

i^Mj  If" 

B^^ 

,^  I  L 

3 

t^^^m^^. 

■*^ 

Camels  carrying  Halfa 


,:t^^-^ 


An  Arab  Bir 


CAVES  AND  DENS  OF  THE  EARTH  455 

structure  brought  luck  to  its  defenders  later  on,  though 
not  perhaps  in  the  way  that  they  expected,  for  because 
of  it,  the  Romans  were  enabled  to  cut  it  down  and  so 
save  the  city. 

To  the  superstitious  awe  of  iron,  however,  there  has 
always  been  another  side.  As  the  metal  is  obnoxious 
to  the  Djinn,  inspiring  them  with  fear,  so  it  furnishes 
man  with  a  weapon  which  may  be  turned  against  these 
beings  when  occasion  offers.^  To  defend  themselves 
from  the  Djinn,  the  Arabs  often  cry  *'  Iron,  Iron," 
"  Hadeed — Hadreed,"  or  Iron,  the  unlucky.  And  the 
fact  that  cauterisations  are  performed  with  this  metal 
is^doubtless  the  cause  as  well  as  the  effect  of  much 
of  the  universal  belief  in  them  for  every  ailment  .^  The 
Marabout  of  the  Mosque  of  the  Sabres  at  Kairouan, 
mentioned  elsewhere,  was  a  blacksmith.^  And  the 
fact  of  his  having  made  the  gigantic  iron  swords,  of 
which  the  scabbards  are  preserved  in  the  mosque,  is 
probably  both  the  cause  and  effect  of  the  veneration 
accorded  to  him. 


In  this  land  of  no  railways  and  no  machinery,  one 
can  hardly  over-estimate  the  importance  of  his  animal 
to   the   native.     It   carries  him,   it   draws   water,   it 

^  A  curious  belief  has  been  ound  by  Mr.  W.  L.  Hildburgh  to  exist  in 
the  towns  near  the  French  frontier  in  the  district  lying  along  the  coast  of 
Flanders  and  to  the  east  of  Ostend.  The  non-Catholics  think  that  to  meet 
a  black-clad  Catholic  priest  is  an  omen  of  ill  luck,  to  avert  which  they  at 
once  "  touch  iron,"  such  as,  perhaps,  a  bunch  of  keys  in  the  pocket.  {Folk 
Lore,  1908.) 

'  In  the  Qu'ran  it  is  said  :  "  We,"  God,  "  sent  down  iron,  in  which  are 
both  keen  violence  and  advantages  to  men." 

^  In  the  middle  ages  blacksmiths  were  considered  superior  to  all  other 
artisans  owing  to  their  faculty  of  seemingly  toying  with  fire^  rendering  the 
dangerous  element  subservient  to  their  will,  and  by  its  aid  manipulating  iron 
with  ease  and  dexterity.     (R.  M.  Laurence,  M.D.) 


456  'TWIXT   SAND   AND    SEA 

ploughs,  it  works  the  mill,  it  feeds  and  clothes  him. 
And  every  description  of  animal  is  pressed  into 
every  kind  of  service.  By  this  I  mean  the  camel, 
the  cow,  the  horse,  the  mule,  and  the  donkey.  These 
are  all  yoked  indiscriminately  together  for  every  kind 
of  work.  The  use  of  the  camel  in  the  plough,  it  is 
true,  is  not  common,  though  that  gaunt  animal  is 
even  employed  occasionally  in  this  way.  Sometimes, 
indeed,  when  perhaps  no  four-legged  animal  is  forth- 
coming for  the  work,  women  may  be  seen  drawing 
water  from  the  primitive  wells  or  birs,  of  which  there 
are  so  many  round  Medinine. 

The  water  is  brought  up  from  a  great  depth,  in 
skin  bags,  which  ascend  and  descend  upon  a  rope  that 
is  worked  over  a  couple  of  wheels.  When  the  bag 
reaches  the  top,  the  water  pours  into  a  reservoir, 
through  a  great  spout  made  of  leather.  When  five 
or  six  handsome,  bare-legged  native  women,  clad  in 
clinging  dark  blue  garments,  with  quantities  of  silver 
jewellery  upon  their  arms  and  necks  and  ankles,  are 
drawing  water  from  one  of  these  primitive  wells, 
the  scene  is  a  most  picturesque  one.  Their  bodies 
sway  with  supple  panther-like  movements.  They 
smile  at  you  as  you  pass ;  their  teeth  are  white 
and  even,  and  their  dark  eyes  are  bright,  yet  soft. 
The  picture  impresses  itself  upon  the  memory,  and  is 
not  easily  forgotten. 

The  country  upon  either  side  of  the  road  lying 
between  Medinine  and  Gabes  is  stony  and  barren. 
Here  and  there  are  patches  of  green,  or  a  little  oasis  of 
palm.  Sometimes  the  natives  have  enclosed  a  small 
garden  of  fig-trees  ;  but  generally  the  land  has  a  desert 
character.  Now  and  then  its  barrenness  is  redeemed 
by  the  broom  and  gorse  bushes — great  heaped-up 
masses  of  gold,  which  make  a  blaze  of  colour.    Their 


CAVES    AND    DENS    OF   THE    EARTH    457 

faint  almondy  scent  is  borne  down  upon  the  morning 
air. 

Other  flowers  there  are  in  the  stony  wilderness,  but 
they  are  only  to  be  seen  by  those  who  pause  by  the 
way  and  search  for  them ;  and  this  not  because  they 
are  hidden,  for  they  lie  sheltered  from  the  scorching 
rays  of  the  sun  by  no  wealth  of  green  leaves,  but  only 
because  they  are  so  small.  Multitudes  there  are  of 
these  tiny  plants  which  have  struggled  up  through  the 
unkindly  ground,  infinite  in  variety  of  exquisite  tint 
and  form.  Scarcely  one  raises  its  head  above  the  level 
of  the  stones ;  existence  itself  would  seem  to  be  only 
just  possible.  And  yet  every  blossom  is  a  thing  of 
beauty  to  marvel  at. 

In  loveliness  and  brilliancy  of  colouring  they  can 
hold  their  own  with  any  flower  which  has  grown  up 
in  more  favourable  circumstances ;  in  scent,  in  pro- 
portion to  their  size,  with  some  of  them,  none  can 
compare. 

I  have  found  a  little  blossom  growing  in  these  stony 
wastes  of  a  most  beautiful  blue,  shading  to  red  at  the 
centre,  in  size  not  larger  than  a  pimpernel ;  yet  the 
scent  of  it  might  be  mistaken  for  that  of  a  Gloire  de 
Dijon  rose.  The  scents  of  the  two  flowers  are  in 
quality  and  strength  identical. 

All  animate  objects  seem  to  assume  enormous 
importance  upon  this  desert  road.  Now,  you  meet  a 
caravan  of  about  one  hundred  camels,  and  perhaps 
thirty  donkeys,  all  bearing  picturesque  burdens — 
great  bundles  of  halfa  grass,  which  hang  down  over 
their  sides.  They  have  been  out  all  night  upon  the 
mountains.  Their  owners  were  gathering  the  grass 
until  the  sunset.  Now,  in  the  early  morning,  they  are 
carrying  it  to  Gabes  to  be  shipped  to  England  and 
France,  for  the  manufacture  of  paper. 


458  TWIXT   SAND   AND    SEA 

Farther  on,  a  couple  of  cows  are  treading  corn. 
The  straw  is  spread  out  in  a  circle  upon  the 
ground,  the  animals  being  driven  round  and  round 
upon  it. 

At  a  short  distance  from  the  road  is  a  sacred  tree, 
hung  all  over  with  rags.  Instances  of  these  strange 
survivals  occur  all  over  North  Africa,  though  they  are 
more  numerous  in  some  regions  than  in  others.  Round 
about  Medinine  there  are  many.  The  sacred  tree  is 
not  always  of  the  same  species  or  the  same  growth. 
Near  Hammam  Meskoutine  a  grand  old  olive-tree, 
said  to  be  a  thousand  years  old,  is  venerated.  In  the 
country  lying  between  Gabes  and  Medinine,  where 
few  large  trees  grow,  the  sacred  ones  are  low,  thick, 
scrubby  bushes,  and  their  branches  are  covered  thickly 
with  rags,  many  of  them  having  been  placed  there  by 
women  desiring  children. 

An  interesting  specimen  of  this  kind  of  marabout 
exists  also  at  Hammam  R'hira,  high  up  in  the 
mountains  sixty  miles  from  Algiers.  The  tree,  which 
is  hung  with  votive  rags,  forms  a  natural  arbour 
where  the  natives  pray  and  burn  incense  in  the  usual 
earthenware  vessels.  Here  the  Holy  Well  is  also 
present,  for  a  stream  of  water  flowing  out  of  the  rock 
forms  a  little  pool  close  to  the  tree.^ 

I  have  been  told  that  a  marabout  was  buried  there, 
but  for  this  fact  I  cannot  vouch. 

^  A  well  was  generally  beside  the  sacred  tree.  The  goddess  of  the  tree 
was  also  the  goddess  of  the  well.  At  the  conversion  her  wells  were  taken 
over  by  the  new  religion  and  became  holy  wells  under  the  protection  of  the 
Virgin  or  of  some  other  saint.  They  continued  to  be  approached  with  the 
same  rites  as  of  old,  for  the  ancient  boons  for  which  the  fertilisation  spirit 
had  always  been  invoked.  Besides  the  public  cult  for  the  fertilisation  spirit 
for  the  welfare  of  crops  and  herds,  there  was  also  a  private  cult,  aiming  at 
more  personal  objects.  This  survives  in  Christianity  in  the  custom  of 
throwing  pins  and  other  things  into  wells,  and  wishing.  (Robertson 
Smith,  Religion  of  the  Semites,  p.  i66.) 


On  the  Road  to  El  Hamel 


At  Hammam  R'irha 
InIarabouts 


CAVES  AND  DENS  OF  THE  EARTH  459 

Upon  the  road  between  Bou  Saada  and  El  Hamel, 
the  Httle  village  built  round  the  important  zaouia 
and  mosque  which  dominate  it,  there  is  another  in- 
teresting and  singularly  perfect  specimen  of  tree 
marabout.  The  sacred  bush,  which  is  almost  covered 
with  votive  rags,  is  surrounded  by  a  circle  of  stones. 
Two  specially  large  ones  are  placed  in  the  direction  of 
Mecca.  At  the  foot  of  these  a  hole  has  been  made 
in  the  ground  by  the  natives  scratching  up  the 
sand  wherewith  to  perform  their  ablutions,  sand 
being  permitted  as  a  substitute  for  water,  where 
the  latter  is  not  attainable.  Before  entering  the 
circle  the  worshippers  walk  round,  and  remove  their 
shoes. 

This  spot  is  said  to  be  hallowed  because  it  was 
here  that  the  much-revered  marabout  of  El  Hamel  used 
to  rest  when  he  journeyed  to  Bou  Saada.  But  the 
sacred  character  with  which  the  place  is  invested  has 
its  origin  in  a  cult  much  older  than  Islamism,  and 
here  may  be  traced  the  accumulation  of  old  cults 
upon  one  spot  which  has  been  already  alluded  to 
elsewhere  (cf.  p.  127). 

I  must  mention  yet  another  curious  instance  of  a 
sacred  spot  or  marabout.  On  a  shelf  in  the  rock  at 
the  side  of  the  wonderful  road  cut  by  the  French 
through  mountains  of  the  Hodna  are  piled  up  large 
numbers  of  small  green  pottery  candlesticks,  and  long 
tapers  of  about  the  thickness  of  an  ordinary  lead 
pencil.  Doubtless  other  instances  of  these  candle- 
sticks and  tapers  being  used  as  votive  offerings 
upon  a  sacred  spot  exist  in  North  Africa,  but  they 
are  not  common.  Exactly  opposite,  upon  another 
portion  of  the  rock  through  which  the  road  has 
been  cut,  are  heaped  up  more  candlesticks  and  more 
tapers.      The    spot   was  doubtless    venerated   before 


460  TWIXT   SAND   AND   SEA 

the  road  was  cut,  but  of  this  I  was  unable  to  obtain 
proof. 

There  is  something  wonderfully  touching  in  the  faith 
of  the  natives  in  these  wayside  marabouts,  belonging 
in  reality  to  an  ancient  pagan  cult  among  the  Libyans. 
For  although  the  worship  has  been  in  a  way  received 
into  Islamism,  it  has  no  sanction  from  or  real  connec- 
tion with  this  newer  religion.  The  primitives  believed 
that  the  spirit  incorporated  in  the  tree  had  either  a 
harmful  or  a  beneficial  potency — that  it  could  give  or 
absorb  ills.  And  this  custom  of  hanging  a  portion  taken 
from  their  own  garments  upon  a  certain  tree,  which  for 
some  reason  has  come  to  be  accounted  sacred,  is  pro- 
bably a  rite  of  sympathetic  magic  for  the  expulsion 
of  evil  from  themselves.  By  leaving  the  rag  upon  a 
sacred  tree,  the  primitive  thought  that  with  it  he  was 
depositing  the  ill  that  troubled  him,  and  that  it  would 
be  absorbed  by  the  tree. 

The  object  of  sympathetic  magic,  whether  the 
spirit  was  supposed  to  dwell  in  the  tree,  or  was  merely 
symbolised  by  it,  was  to  secure  the  beneficent  influence 
for  the  suppliant  by  bringing  him  into  contact  with  its 
physical  embodiment  or  home. 

And  so  as  he  tramps  along  the  hot,  weary  road,  or 
climbs  the  hills,  the  native  of  North  Africa  steps  aside 
to  hang  a  rag  upon  a  sacred  tree  ;  or  perhaps  he  makes 
a  special  pilgrimage  for  the  purpose.  He  would  be 
unable  to  give  any  reason  for  doing  it  except  that  the 
tree  is  holy,  and  that  he  trusts  and  hopes  that  good  will 
come  to  him  by  the  action. 

Away  to  the  left  of  the  long  Medinine  road  is 
another  sacred  spot.  Upon  the  high  ground  the 
ghstening  domes  of  twelve  marabouts  are  outlined 
against  the  blue  sky.  The  white  tombstones  of  these 
honoured  dead  form   a  strong  contrast   to   a   grave 


CAVES  AND  DENS  OF  THE  EARTH  461 

a  little  farther  on,  close  to  the  roadside.  There, 
evidently  quite  recently,  has  been  buried  one  who 
has  fallen  by  the  way.  At  the  head  a  stick  has 
been  planted  in  the  piled-up  heap  of  rough  sandy 
earth  ;  and  upon  the  stick  hangs  a  worn  red 
turban,  the  head-covering  that  the  Mohammedan 
sets  such  curious  store  by,  and  treats  with  so  much 
reverence. 

Other  weary  pilgrims  have  fallen  down  and  died 
by  the  way  the  night  before.  Their  bodies  He  un- 
buried  by  the  roadside.  A  Httle  donkey  that  has 
trudged  wearily  along  under  its  heavy  burden,  until 
it  could  stagger  on  no  longer  ;  and  not  far  off  a  white 
dog,  which  was  perhaps  kicked  by  some  animal.  His 
master  went  home  at  sunset  with  the  flock,  leaving  him 
behind.  His  bark  no  longer  protects  the  tent  or  the 
queer  cave-like  house.  But  his  place  will  quickly  be 
filled,  for  the  native  dwelling  must  have  its  dog.  It 
is  invariably  of  the  same  breed,  apparently  half 
jackal,  and  half  wild,  though  very  faithful,  and  when 
assured  that  no  harm  is  intended  either  to  his  master 
or  his  belongings,  quite  ready  to  make  friends.  Until 
then  he  looks  upon  every  one  who  approaches  the 
home  as  an  enemy,  and  barks  loudly  to  announce 
the  stranger's  proximity. 

Now  upon  the  road  behind  us  is  heard  the  sound 
of  padding,  trampling  feet.  Suddenly  eight  of  the 
beautiful  Mechares,  the  racing  camels  of  the  desert, 
are  alongside  of  the  motor,  and  keep  up  with  it  for 
some  distance.  It  is  a  magnificent  sight.  The  great 
white  animals,  with  outstretched  necks  ;  the  riders, 
all  in  white,  standing  upright  in  their  stirrups,  with 
waving  arms  and  brandished  sticks  and  cries  and 
shouts,  urging  the  camels  forward.  They  can  run 
easily  at  the  rate  of  twenty-five  miles  an  hour.    But 


462  'TWIXT    SAND    AND    SEA 

they  are  on  their  way  to  Sousse  to  take  part  in  a 
Fantasia.  Their  riders  do  not  wish  to  tire  them, 
so,  after  an  exciting  rush  forward  for  about  two 
miles,  they  slacken  speed,  and  are  left  behind  in  the 
distance. 


CHAPTER    XII 

SOME    SURVIVALS 

The  whole  population  seemed  to  be  gathering  in  the 
small  market-place  of  the  sun-baked  village.  Our  visit, 
unpremeditated  and  suddenly  arranged,  had  evidently 
been  timed  at  a  most  interesting  moment. 

Filiash  is  one  of  the  quaint  little  villages  of  the 
Ziban.  In  one  corner  of  its  small  square  market- 
place stands  the  mosque,  dim  and  solemn  ;  its  low 
pillars  are  palm-trees  on  bases  of  earth ;  the  steps  up 
to  the  mimbar  are  also  made  of  earth.  The  little 
crooked  tower,  which  looks  as  though  a  breath  of  wind 
would  blow  it  over,  like  a  tower  made  of  cards,  is  of 
earth  also.  The  square  itself  is  enclosed  upon  all  sides 
by  houses ;  some  of  them  are  broken  and  fallen,  many 
are  mere  heaps  of  dry  dust ;  for  the  people  of  North 
Africa  never  repair  or  build  anything  up  again. 

Just  beyond  the  square,  and  adjoining  the  mosque, 

is  the  place  for  the  ablutions  of  the  worshippers,  a 

queer  little  building,  low  and  damp  and  dirty.    The 

water   does  not   drain   away  properly ;    the  floor  is 

slippery  and  slimy.     But  here  there  is  curious  evidence 

of  the  Roman  occupation  of  the  Ziban, — stones  and 

pillars  which  were  never  cut  by  the  natives,  or  intended 

originally  for  the  purposes  to  which  they  are  put. 

A  huge,  finely  cut  stone  forms  the  step  at  the  doorway. 

Down  one  side  of  the  cave-like  room  are  little  square 

recesses,  so  low  that  you  would  have  to  stoop  almost 

double  either  to  enter  or  stand  inside  them.     In  each 

of  these  a  small,  round,  massive  stone  basin  is  fixed 

463 


464  'TWIXT   SAND    AND    SEA 

in  the  ground.  The  cabins  are  intended  for  those 
worshippers  who  desire  to  perform  the  ceremony  of 
total  immersion  of  the  body,  or  ablutions  called 
Ghusl.  A  garment  can  be  hung  over  the  palm-stick 
fixed  across  the  entrance  ;  privacy  thus  being  ensured. 
In  the  building  also  there  is  a  large  trough  for  washing, 
and  two  smaller  ones,  all  of  them  evidently  Roman 
coffins.  Half  hidden  in  the  gloom  of  the  queer  little 
building  is  a  great  well  about  ninety  feet  deep.  Far 
down,  if  you  lean  over  its  rough  hewn  sides,  you  can 
see  the  water  glistening  like  a  huge  black  diamond  in 
the  darkness.  There  is  plenty  of  water  even  in  this 
hot  little  village  upon  the  edge  of  the  Sahara  for  those 
who  dig  deep  enough.  It  is  brought  to  the  surface 
from  the  well  in  a  great  skin  bag  at  the  end  of  an 
enormous  length  of  rope.  But,  judging  by  the  ex- 
tremely green  and  unpleasant  appearance  of  the  water 
in  the  trough,  the  trouble  of  raising  it  weighs  heavily 
in  the  scale  against  the  idea  of  any  necessity  for  fresh 
water  amongst  the  worshippers. 

Now  the  distant  sound  of  music  reminds  one  of  the 
excitement  outside  in  the  market-place. 

Three  men  are  creating  a  deafening  noise  with  a 
huge  shallow-shaped  drum,  a  pipe,  and  the  native 
tambourine.  Summoned  by  the  sound,  all  the  people 
troop  out  of  their  houses  into  the  square,  and  the 
musicians  sit  down  upon  the  ground  with  their  backs 
against  a  wall,  and  continue  to  make  more  noise  than 
ever.  Groups  of  little  girls  gaily  dressed,  with  large 
hoop  earrings,  and  chains  round  their  necks,  come 
into  the  square  and  arrange  themselves  in  rows  upon 
the  ground.  Behind  them  are  the  married  women, 
all  veiled,  and  mostly  in  white.  A  few  wear  coloured 
garments,  and  the  face  of  one  pretty  wife,  who  looks 


SOME    SURVIVALS  465 

little  more  than  a  child,  is  clearly  visible  through  a 
veil  of  green  net,  spangled  with  silver. 

The  women  take  up  their  position  upon  one  side  of 
the  musicians  ;  the  men  upon  the  other  ;  the  small 
boys  play  about  on  either  side.  Two  or  three  little 
fellows  run  out  into  the  middle  of  the  square  and  let 
off  some  squibs  and  crackers  with  obvious  pride  and 
dehght ;  boy  nature  being  much  the  same,  whether  it 
is  in  a  mud  village  in  North  Africa  or  in  a  big  town  in 
England. 

And  now  the  square  is  full  of  people.  Every  in- 
habitant of  the  village  who  is  able  to  walk  must  surely 
be  there.  They  sit  in  rows  on  the  ground,  or  form 
groups  all  over  the  earthen  walls  of  the  broken-down 
houses.  The  sandy  market-place  is  a  concentrated 
mass  of  bright  colour.  The  ridiculous  little  crooked 
minaret  of  the  mosque,  with  a  quaint  solemnity  that 
seems  to  be  in  keeping  with  it  all,  looks  down  upon  the 
scene. 

Judging  from  the  expression  upon  the  faces  of  the 
two  grand-looking  old  men,  who  carry  long-barrelled 
guns  in  their  hands,  the  serious  part  of  the  per- 
formance is  about  to  begin.  They  sit  down  upon 
the  ground,  a  look  of  intense  purpose  animating  their 
faces,  and  load  the  weapons  with  gunpowder.  This 
part  of  the  proceeding  being  accomplished,  one  of 
them  marches  solemnly  out  into  the  middle  of  the 
square  and  puts  his  finger  upon  the  trigger.  The  first 
barrel  goes  off,  and  an  expression  of  enormous  pride 
and  satisfaction  spreads  over  the  solemn  countenance 
of  the  old  man.  But  the  other  barrel  of  the  antiquated 
gun  misses  fire,  and  he  returns  to  his  place  with  a  dis- 
gusted, disappointed,  and  baffled  look  that  is  worthy 
of  the  failure  of  a  Napoleon. 

Now  it  is  the  turn  of  the  second  veteran  with  his  gun  ; 

2  G 


466  'TWIXT    SAND   AND   SEA 

he  too  marches  out  into  the  centre  of  the  square.  His 
air  of  pride  and  superiority  is  even  greater  than  that  of 
the  first  man,  and  also  proclaims  the  tremendous  im- 
portance of  the  act.  He  is  more  fortunate  than  his 
companion.  Both  barrels  go  off.  Bang — bang — and 
the  old  man  returns  to  his  place  with  a  self-conscious 
walk,  that  is  almost  a  strut,  as  pleased  with  himself  as 
a  schoolboy  who  has  triumphed  over  his  companions. 
There  is  an  air  of  comic  tragedy  in  the  whole  perform- 
ance. But  to  the  actors  in  it  this  curious  little  scene 
bears  a  serious  meaning.  For,  as  I  have  said  before, 
the  firing-off  of  guns  or  burning  of  powder  is  thought 
to  scare  away  the  djinn.  And  now  another  figure  has 
taken  the  place  of  the  old  men.  A  dancing-girl  comes 
out  into  the  middle  of  the  square.  She  has  an  un- 
pleasant bony  and  heavy  face,  of  a  low  type.  Her  neck 
is  adorned  with  the  most  beautiful  barbaric  chain  com- 
posed of  gold,  rough  pearls,  coral,  to  which  substance 
a  peculiar  importance  is  attached,  with  numerous  amu- 
lets hanging  upon  it  at  intervals.  Here  was  the  omni- 
present "  Hand  of  Fatimah  "  and  others.  The  lobes  of 
the  dancer's  ears  are  dragged  down  about  an  inch  by 
huge  hoop  earrings.  Her  dress,  a  red  and  yellow  satin 
skirt,  is  very  draggled  and  tawdry ;  and  a  shabby 
veil  of  spangled  black  net  covers  her  head  and 
shoulders.  Her  figure  is  flat,  angular,  and  large. 
The  movements  and  the  shape  of  the  limbs  give  one 
more  than  a  suspicion  that  the  dancer  is  a  youth 
masquerading  as  a  girl.  Glancing  round  at  the 
assembled  people  with  an  ugly  leer,  she  begins  those 
peculiar  and  singularly  ungraceful  movements  which 
in  North  Africa  constitute  what  is  called  dancing  ; 
the  wriggling  of  all  the  muscles,  particularly  those  of 
the  lower  part  of  the  body,  the  bending  backwards 
accompanied   by   a   few   simple   steps.     The   women 


SOME    SURVIVALS  467 

amongst  the  audience  utter  that  curious,  shrill  cry, 
the  zagharit,  the  weird  sound  that  broke  upon  our  ears 
at  Teboursouk.^ 

The  inhabitants  of  the  little  brown  village  of 
Filiash  are  gathered  together  to  celebrate  a  religious 
ceremony.  All  that  we  have  been  witnessing  is  the 
preliminary  to  a  rite  which  is  not  mentioned  or  com- 
manded in  the  Qu'ran.  It  has  been  incorporated  into 
Islamism  (and  has  maintained  an  importance  that  is 
little  in  keeping  with  its  non-Qu'ranic  origin),  as  also 
it  was  into  Judaism.^  But  it  belongs  to  a  cult  and  a 
worship  very  much  older  than  either  the  one  or  the 
other.  Its  roots  are  in  paganism,  deep  down  in  the 
most  primitive  needs  and  fears  and  beliefs  of  the 
ancients.  Hence  the  gravity  of  the  people  of  Filiash 
during  the  whole  of  the  quaint  proceeding,  and  their 
evident  sense  of  its  supreme  import.  In  common  with 
the  strange  rites  of  the  Aissaouas,  it  is  a  survival  of 
those  mutilations  which  were  practised  by  the  ancients 
to  celebrate  their  mourning  for  the  death  of  the  god 
Ammon.^    It  is  the  rite  of  circumcision. 

The  Moh'arrem  or  the  beginning  of  the  Moham- 
medan year,  is  the  time  of  the  carnival,  and  is  the  time 
when  curious  masquerades  and  celebrations  take  place 
in  the  Ziban. 

At  Biskra  the  natives  parade  the  streets  with  a 
long  tunnel-shaped  framework  of  w^ood,  covered  with 

^  Cf.  p.  431.  ^  Exod.  iv.  25. 

'  Dr.  Bertholon  says  that  the  rite  was  for  a  long  time  performed 
with  a  stone  instrument  as  in  primitive  times  ;  and  the  fact  that  it  is 
the  custom  of  modern  North  Africans  to  perform  the  rite  upon  a  number  of 
children  at  the  same  time — the  rich  man  paying  in  order  that  this  may  be 
accomplished — points  to  its  being  a  survival  of  a  rite  of  substitution  which 
in  ancient  times  celebrated  the  death  of  the  god  Amnion,  {Essai  sur  la 
Religion  des  Libyens,  p.  40.) 


468  'TWIXT   SAND   AND    SEA 

a  piece  of  stuff  painted  rudely  in  a  pattern,  with  white 
paint.  This  is  intended  to  represent  a  Hon,  and  is 
carried,  and  moved  by  a  couple  of  boys  who  are  con- 
cealed inside  the  body.  From  the  head  end  of  the 
framework  two  long  tusks  project,  made  of  bundles 
of  palm  stalks,  from  which  the  fruit  has  been  gathered. 
These  are  set  on  fire  and  smoulder  slowly,  though 
sometimes  the  fire  bursts  out  unexpectedly,  and  has 
to  be  extinguished.  The  animal  moved  by  the  boys 
performs  all  manner  of  antics  and  gambols,  while  a 
good  deal  of  comic  business  goes  on.  Two  natives  in 
burnouses,  their  faces  covered  with  masks  made  of 
white  cotton  wool,  and  moustache  and  beard  of  the 
same,  carry  long  heavy  poles.  With  their  hands  upon 
their  long  staves,  the  ends  of  which  are  planted  upon 
the  ground,  they  jump  up  and  down  in  front  of  each 
other  like  monkeys  upon  sticks.  With  the  same  long 
poles  they  slay  the  lion.  It  lies  upon  the  ground  while 
the  men  quarrel  as  to  who  has  killed  it.  The  quarrel 
ends  in  a  fight,  in  the  course  of  which  one  of  the  men 
kills  the  other.  Then  a  man  supposed  to  represent 
the  doctor  comes  forward,  examines  the  dead  man, 
and  tries  to  revive  him  by  giving  him  medicine. 
Afterwards  he  revives  the  lion.  The  doctor  did  not 
seem  to  be  quite  certain  whether  his  chief  attention 
was  to  be  given  to  the  man  or  the  lion.  A  good  deal 
of  prompting  and  consultation  between  the  actors 
went  on,  as  though  the  play  had  been  somewhat  for- 
gotten. It  reminded  one  of  what  goes  on  when  village 
boys  are  acting  the  "  Seven  Champions"  in  England — 
the  doubt  as  to  the  action  of  the  play,  the  uncertainty 
as  to  the  words,  the  whispered  hints  and  promptings. 
There  are  a  number  of  supernumerary  figures,  one  of 
them  being  a  man  who  carries  a  sack  full  of  wool, 
which  he  asks  permission  to  sell.     This  is  given  by  a 


SOME    SURVIVALS  469 

mock  policeman,  who  is  masquerading  in  European 
dress ! 

When  the  play  has  been  carried  through,  the  lion 
gets  up  from   the  ground,  and  the  whole  procession 
1  moves  on  to  repeat  the  performance  elsewhere,  either 
in  the  native  village  of  Old  Biskra  or  in  the  modern 
French  part  of  the  place. 
j        This  goes  on  for  some  days.     Five  or  six  parties  of 
'  actors  are  masquerading  in  different  directions  at  the 
I  same  time.     Money  is  collected  after  each  performance, 
'  especially  from  the  visitors  at  the  hotels,  who  flock  to 
the  doors  to  see  the  fun.     For  merely  as  fun  most  of 
them  regard  it,  and  as  rather  poor  fun  into  the  bargain. 
Few  of  the  Europeans  who  desert  their  dinners  for 
'  a  few  moments  to  watch  it  remain  to  see  the  play 
!  finished,  fewer  still  realise  the  interest  and  the  possible 
'  significance  of  it.     I  say  possible,  because  while  there 
is  no  doubt  as  to  the  interest  of  this  strange  perform- 
ance,  as  to  its  significance  there  is   a  difference  of 
opinion.     Professor  Edmund  Doutte  thinks  that  the 
'  lion  play  owes  its  being  to  the  belief  in  sympathetic 
magic. ^      He  considers  that  this    and    various    other 
I  plays  of  the  same  character,  taking  place  in  different 
i  parts  of  the  Maghreb,  are    all  connected    with    the 
'  same  belief,  and  are  survivals  of  the  rite  in  which 
i  the    dead   spirit    of   vegetation   was    resuscitated    in 
the  spring,  the  ancients  believing  that  the  course  of 
vegetation   was    actually  affected  by  the  ceremony, 
and  that    by   it,   nature  was   aided  to  continue   its 
course.     The   same   kind   of   play   is   found   also    all 
over  Europe.     Mr.  E.  K.  Chambers  says  that  although 
they  differ  in  many  aspects,  they  have  all  a  common 
incident,  viz.  the  revival  of  one  of  the  characters  by 
a  doctor.     In  virtue  of  this  he  considers  that  they  may 

^  Magie  et  religion. 


470  TWIXT   SAND   AND    SEA 

be  classified  as  folk-drama  in  which  the  resurrection 
of  the  year  is  symbolised,  and  that  this  central  inci- 
dent symbolises  the  annual  death  of  the  year,  of  the 
fertilisation  spirit  and  its  resurrection  in  spring/ 

The  study  of  signs  and  symbols  is  an  interesting 
one  ;  assuming,  as  we  may,  that  every  device,  every 
line  beyond  the  purely  straight  stroke,  has  had  some 
meaning  in  its  origin,  has  been  an  endeavour  to  illus- 
trate some  definite  idea  of  primitive  man,^  the  study 
becomes  a  fascinating  one.  North  Africa  is  full  of 
these  signs  and  symbols,  signs  that  bear  relation  to 
primitive  beliefs,  primitive  fears,  gropings  after  truth, 
in  the  world's  childhood ;  forms,  the  original  meanings 
of  which  have  long  since  been  forgotten,  but  which 
have  grown  up  and  developed  through  the  ages,  bear- 
ing the  imprint  of  many  influences  ;  the  expression  of 
the  needs  and  fears  and  worship  of  man.  For  religions 
and  beliefs  are  never  changed  suddenly.  Each  new 
one  as  it  grows  up  adapts  the  old  cults,  and  carries 
on  ancient  rites  under  new  names  and  with  altered 
significance.  Most  of  the  signs  and  symbols  have  now 
assumed  a  protective  character,  being  used  either  as 
amulets,  or  painted  and  carved  upon  buildings  to  avert 
the  danger  of  the  evil  eye.^ 

The  evil  eye,  which,  according  to  Professor 
Westermarck,  is  said  by  the  natives  to  "  own  two- 
thirds  of  the  burial-ground,"  claims  universal  belief 
in  North  Africa.  It  is  the  power  which  is  thought  to  be 
possessed  by  special  people,  or  by  all  in  certain  circum- 
stances, of  blighting  and  harming  human  and  animate 
beings,  or  even  inanimate  objects,  and  of  controlling 
events  injuriously  ;    and  this  belief  seems  to  be  an 

^  E.  K.  Chambers,  Mcdicival  Stage,  vol.  i.  pp.  206  et  seq. 

*  E.  K.  Ehvorthy,  Horns  of  Honour,  p.  i. 

^  "  Eat  not  thou  the  bread  of  him  that  hath  an  evil  eye." 


Amulets 


SOME    SURVIVALS  471 

instinctive  and  hereditary  conviction  of  mankind.  It 
is  found  in  all  degrees  of  culture  and  in  all  religions  ;  it 
is  sanctioned  by  classical  writers,  and  mention  is  made 
of  it  in  the  Bible.  When  it  is  said  that  "  Saul  eyed 
David  from  that  day  and  forward/'  ^  it  is  meant  that 
the  King  possessed  the  evil  eye.  Later,  in  Christian 
times,  Paul  the  Apostle  alludes  to  this  power  in  his  sug- 
gestion that  some  harmful  spell  had  been  thrown  over 
the  Galatians  to  produce  an  evil  effect  upon  them.^ 

The  direful  effect  of  the  evil  eye  was  thought 
to  proceed  from  a  power  of  injurious  fascination  such 
as  that  possessed  by  the  snake  over  the  bird.^  The 
injury  might  be  conveyed  in  different  ways  ;  one  very 
potent  one  is  over-praise  ;  evil  effects  are  thought  to 
proceed  from  envious  looks. 

In  a  book  that  was  written  in  1603  by  Martin 
Delrio  of  Louvain,  a  Jesuit,  it  is  said:  "  Fascination 
is  a  power  derived  from  a  pact  with  the  devil,  who, 
when  the  so-called  fascinator  looks  at  another  with 
evil  intent,  or  praises,  by  means  known  to  himself, 
infects  with  evil  the  person  at  whom  he  looks."  * 
And  the  fact  that  among  civilised  people  it  has  not 
been  considered  good  manners  to  over-praise  is  doubt- 
less a  remnant  of  this  ancient  belief  that  a  person  may 
fascinate  against  his  own  will  or  knowledge.  "  For 
although  we  in  these  later  days,"  says  Mr.  Elworthy, 
"  scoff  at  superstition,  we  still  show  by  our  actions  and 
words  that  in  our  inmost  senses  there  lurks  a  supersti- 
tion which  all  our  culture  cannot  stifle,  and  which  may 
well  be  thought  to  be  a  kind  of  hereditary  instinct." 

But  strong  as  the  belief  in  the  danger  of  the  evil 
eye  has  always  been,  the  belief  in  the  possibility  of 

^  I  Sam.  xviii.  9.  '  Gal.  iii.  I. 

^  The  Romans  called  this  charm  fascmum.     (Pliny,  H.N.,  xix.  19.) 

*  Elworthy,  T/te  Evil  Eye,  p.  35. 


472  'TWIXT   SAND   AND    SEA 

an  antidote  has  been  equally  so.  To  ward  off  and 
counteract  the  dreaded  influence  and  avert  the  danger, 
certain  means  have  been  adopted  and  believed  in  by 
mankind  all  over  the  world.  Virtue  has  been  thought 
to  reside  in  signs  and  symbols  which  are  employed  in 
various  ways,  especially  as  amulets. 

The  "  charms "  which  people  wear  upon  their 
persons  "  for  luck,"  or  the  brass  ornaments  hung 
upon  cart-horses,  have  their  origin  in  this  universal 
dread  of  the  evil  eye.  In  some  parts  of  Europe — in 
Spain  and  Italy,  for  instance — certain  things  are 
avowedly  worn  as  protective  amulets,  either  to  draw 
away  the  attention  of  the  dangerous  person  by  causing 
him  to  laugh  or  think  of  something  else,  because  the 
first  glance  is  the  dangerous  one,  or  else  to  enable  the 
wearer  of  the  amulet  to  utilise  the  virtue  of  some 
higher  power. 

The  Hand. — One  of  the  most  interesting  and  also 
the  most  ancient  and  universal  of  these  beneficent 
and  protective  talismans  is  the  hand,  either  in  its 
natural  or  in  a  more  or  less  conventionalised  form.  In 
the  latter,  it  is  worn  by  every  man,  woman,  and  child, 
and  even  by  animals,  in  most  parts  of  North  Africa.^ 
Representations  of  it  are  painted  upon  the  outside  of 
almost  all  buildings,  although  the  uninitiated  may  not 
always  detect  the  fact,  for  the  actual  resemblance  that 
the  design  bears  to  a  hand  is  of  little  or  no  importance. 
For  the  number  five  is  a  charm  against  evil.  And 
so  every  representation  of  the  five  fingers,^  or  figure 
of  five,  has  the  same  protective  property.     For  this 

*  At  some  districts — Bou  Saada,  for  instance — the  amulet  is  almost 
totally  visibly  absent.  Where  used  it  is  made  in  every  kind  of  metal,  in 
gold  and  silver  adorned  with  stones  or  chased  with  beautiful  designs,  or 
cut  out  of  common  white  metal,  and  roughly  stamped  upon  the  surface. 
("Signs  and  Symbols,"  Figs.  26  and  28.) 

*  Marabout's  House  (p.  340). 


SOME    SURVIVALS  473 

reason  the  Moor  or  the  Berber  says,  as  he  extends  his 
hands  in  the  face  of  a  suspected  enemy,  "  Five  in  your 
eye  "—magic  words  which  are  thought  to  ward  off  the 
dreaded  danger.^ 

Over  one  of  the  chief  gateways  in  Tangiers  there  is 
a  large  upright  spread-out  hand  depicted,  much  re- 
sembhng  the  one  upon  the  keystone  of  the  Moorish 
arch  of  La  Torre  de  Justicia  in  the  Alhambra  at 
Granada.  "The  Hand  of  Fatimah,"^  say  the  Arabs 
as  they  point  to  the  former.  The  Mohammedan  in 
many  parts  of  North  Africa  also  calls  the  amulet  that 
is  so  universally  worn  by  the  same  name — "The  Hand 
of  Fatimah,"  the  Prophet's  daughter,  she  who  was 
called  "  Al  Batul,"  or  the  Virgin,  also  "  Fatimatu 
Zzuhra,"  or  the  beautiful  Fatimah,^  from  whom  all 
of  the  race  of  Mohammed  trace  their  descent. 

But,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  symbol  of  the  hand 
has  nothing  whatever  to  do  with  Fatimah  or  the 
Prophet,  excepting  that  Islamism,  having  adopted, 
as  already  said,  so  much  which  is  infinitely  more 
ancient  than  itself,  has  adopted  the  hand  also. 

The  power  of  the  human  hand  is  an  article  of 
very  ancient  and  widespread  belief.  As  a  symbol  it 
signifies  adoration,  benediction,  victory,  or  triumph, 
or  protection,  according  to  the  form  of  its  representa- 
tion. The  open  and  uplifted  hand  always  signifies 
power,  victory,  or  triumph.     Numerous  examples  of 

^  Professor  Westermarck. 

*  The  Shiah,  a  Persian  sect,  attribute  the  thumb  of  the  hand  to  the 
Prophet ;  the  first  finger  stands  for  the  Lady  Fatimah  ;  second,  Ali,  her 
husband  ;  third,  Hassan,  fourth,  Husein,  sons  of  Fatimah  and  Ali.  With 
other  sects  also  the  thumb  represents  the  Prophet. 

*  She  was  one  of  the  perfect  women  of  the  Prophet,  who  used  to  say 
that  amongst  men  there  were  many  perfect,  but  amongst  women  only  four, 
the  others  being  Khadijah,  his  first  wife,  the  Virgin  Mary,  and  Asiyah,  the 
wife  of  Pharaoh. 


474  'TWIXT    SAND    AND    SEA 

these  hands  were  found  at  Carthage,  upon  the  Phoenician 
stelae,  and  are  now  in  the  Lavigerie  Museum,  and  the 
Bardo  at  Tunis.  They  date  from  the  period  of  the 
foundation  of  Carthage  to  its  destruction  by  the 
Romans  (''  Signs  and  Symbols,"  Figs.  24  and  25).  The 
following  is  a  translation  of  the  inscription  upon  one 
of  them,  over  which  an  open  hand  is  carved  in  low 
relief  ("  Signs  and  Symbols,"  Fig.  25) : — 

"  Cyprus  de  Moloch  Baal  vow  made  by  Bodasarsth,  son  of 
Bodmelgart,  son  of  Bodastaroth,  son  of  Bodmelgart,  son  of 
Sarebim  to  the  goddess  mother  face  of  Baal  and  to  Lord 
Baal-Hammon  (he  has  heard  his  voice)." 

Here  the  hand  is  the  hand  of  triumph.  It  is  the 
same  symbol  of  victory  that  Saul  set  up  for  himself 
at  Carmel,^  the  jadh,  which  has  been  wrongly  trans- 
lated "  place."  2  Absolom's  "  places  "  were  also  hands 
carved  probably  in  the  same  manner  as  the  Phoenician 
stelse  at  Carthage  and  elsewhere.  With  these  the 
Israelites  must  have  been  very  familiar,  for  Carmel 
was  not  far  from  Tyre,  where,  says  Mr.  Elworthy,  the 
uplifted  hand  was  doubtless  a  common  sign. 

Professor  E.  K.  Wallis  Budge  mentions  a  very 
striking  example  of  the  antiquity  of  the  use  of  the 
hand  as  a  symbol  of  power  to  be  seen  at  Tel-el- 
Amarna,  nineteen  miles  from  Cairo,  upon  the  tomb  of 
the  monotheistic  Pharaoh,  Khuenaten,  who,  because 
he  preferred  the  heretical  worship  of  the  sun  to  that 
of  Amen-Ra,  called  himself  the  "beloved  of  the  sun's 
disc,"  rather  than  by  the  usual  and  time-honoured 
title  of  the  "  beloved  of  Amen." 

In  these  scenes  the  King  and  his  court  are  adoring 
the  sun,  whose  rays  are  stretched  out  towards  them ; 
each  ray  terminating  in  an  open  hand.      Here  again 

*  E.  K.  Elworthy,  Horns  of  Honour.,  p.  163. 

^  "  And  Saul  set  himself  up  a  place"  (2  Sam.  xviii.  18). 


SOME    SURVIVALS  475 

the  hand  of  power  and  divine  presence  is  represented, 
and  the  date  of  the  tomb  shows  the  hand  as  a  symbol 
to  have  been  used  at  least  as  early  as  1500  b.c.^ 

It  has  continued  in  popular  and  universal  use  all 
over  the  world  down  to  the  present  day,  alike  among 
pagans,  Mohammedans,  and  Christians.  Chiefly  it  is 
used  now  as  a  protective  symbol  and  worn  as  an  amulet 
against  the  evil  eye.  Christians  when  carrying  it, 
as  far  as  I  am  aware,  give  no  explanation  of  their 
reason  for  attaching  protective  properties  to  the  hand. 
The  Mohammedan,  however,  always  definitely  connects 
the  symbol  in  some  way  or  other  with  the  Prophet.^ 
In  North  Africa,  as  I  have  said  before,  it  is  the  *'  Hand 
of  Fatimah." 

It  has  always  been  thought  that  domestic  animals 
are  peculiarly  liable  to  the  dangerous  influence  of  the 
evil  eye,  especially  the  horse  and  the  camel.  It  is  to 
avert  this  danger  that  the  cab-horses  are  taken  by  their 
drivers  to  the  Church  of  St.  Eusebius  in  Rome  to  be 
sprinkled  with  holy  water  and  blessed  by  the  priests 
upon  the  feast  of  St.  Antony  of  Padua,  who  is  the 
special  patron  of  all  four-footed  animals. 

When  one  sees  many  of  the  miserable,  thin,  half- 
starved,  ill-used  creatures  being  taken  away  after  the 
ceremony,  one  cannot  help  wishing  that  the  owners 
and  drivers  would  themselves  endeavour  to  counteract 
the   supposed  evil  by  better  treatment  of  the  poor 

^  The  hand  in  another  position,  that  used  for  the  sacerdotal  blessing, 
was  an  amulet  long  before  Christian  times.     ("  Signs  and  Symbols,"  Fig.  26.) 

2  There  is  a  curious  rehc,  that  is  looked  upon  as  very  sacred,  in  the 
Church  of  St.  Sophia  at  Constantinople — a  white  mark  in  the  dark  purple 
marble  exactly  like  a  spread-out  human  hand,  and  about  the  same  size.  It 
looks  artificial,  but  it  is  really  formed  by  the  marking  in  the  marble.  It  is 
placed  near  the  mihrab,  and  is  said  to  be  the  hand  of  the  Prophet.  It  is 
believed  to  protect  all  who  pray  near  it  from  the  evil  eye.  The  column 
upon  which  it  is,  is  said  to  have  been  brought  from  an  ancient  temple. 
(E.  K,  Elworthy,  The  Evil  Eye,  p.  250.) 


476  'TWIXT    SAND   AND    SEA 

animals,  rather  than  trust  to  charms.  It  would  make 
the  world  a  happier  one — for  horses  at  any  rate.  But 
the  dread  of  this  blighting  influence  is  a  very  real  one. 
In  some  parts  of  Italy  the  mere  fact  of  a  person  noticing 
or  patting  the  horse  inspires  the  owner  with  fear.  I 
remember  an  instance  of  this  not  long  ago  when  an 
Italian  who  had  been  hired  at  Ravello  for  the  drive 
round  the  coast  to  Cava,  stopped  me  in  a  hasty  and 
excited  manner  as  I  was  stroking  his  horse  after  I  left 
the  carriage. 

In  those  parts  of  North  Africa  where  the  camel 
is  the  chief  beast  of  burden,  this  animal  is  always 
provided  with  an  amulet.  The  beautiful  ornament 
reproduced  opposite  page  471  is  intended  for  the  neck 
of  a  camel.  It  is  made  in  white  metal ;  the  raised 
jewel  in  the  centre  is  of  the  green  of  an  emerald.  It 
was  cut  and  designed  by  an  inhabitant  of  one  of  the 
queer  barrel-shaped  houses  at  Medinine,  and  bought 
by  us  upon  the  spot.  So  also  was  the  crescent-shaped 
brooch  in  the  same  illustration.^ 

Another  very  favourite  amulet  for  horses  and 
camels  in  North  Africa  is  a  tiny  bag  containing  a  verse 
of  the  Qu'ran,  written  upon  a  scrap  of  paper  and  sus- 
pended round  the  creature's  neck.  The  safeguard  is 
also  frequently  hung  round  the  necks  of  children,  and 
is  doubtless  akin  to  the  Jewish  phylactery,  worn  upon 
the  forehead. 

Horns. — The  belief  in  the  value  of  horns  as  an 
antidote  against  the  evil  eye  is  also  deeply  rooted  and 
widely  spread.  The  virtue  is  not  confined  to  actual 
horns,  but  is  extended  to  anything  that  simulates  or 
has  the  shape  or  likeness  of  a  horn.     Most  people  are 

^  The  ornaments  Zebah  and  Zalmunna  upon  the  necks  of  the  camels  of 
the  two  Kings  of  Midian  that  were  taken  away  by  Gideon  after  he  had 
killed  them,  were  doubtless  amulets  of  the  same  description  as  the  one  in 
the  illustration  (Judges  viii.  21). 


SOME    SURVIVALS  477 

familiar  with  the  Httle  Italian  charm  in  the  shape  of 
an  antelope's  horn  made  in  silver  or  coral,  bone  or 
mother-of-pearl,  and  the  mano  cornuto,  or  horned  hand, 
so-called  because  the  gesture  made  resembles  a  horn. 
I  am  not,  however,  aware  that  this  gesture,  which  is 
common  in  Southern  Europe,  is  employed  at  all  in 
North  Africa,  where  the  use  of  horns  as  a  protection 
against  the  evil  eye  is  so  general. 

Horns  there  certainly  are  here  in  abundance.  You 
may  see  them  fastened  upon  the  doors,  hanging  outside 
the  shops,  and  in  the  markets.  At  Sousse  they  are 
particularly  numerous.  Also  at  Medinine  they  are 
common.  Upon  one  of  the  doors  we  saw  nailed  the 
dried  tail  of  a  fish,  simulating  horns.  The  hand, 
however,  was  rare  at  the  latter  place  as  a  protective 
symbol,  though  there  were  many  instances  of  the  fish, 
and  also  of  the  conventional  sun. 

The  Fish. — The  fish,  a  favourite  talisman  in  many 
parts  of  the  world,  is  also  much  used  as  a  symbol  in 
North  Africa,  especially  perhaps  towards  the  south. 
In  Kairouan  it  is  very  frequently  seen  ;  in  Medinine 
also  it  appears  in  small  carved  bas-reliefs  over  the 
doors  of  the  houses. 

The  fish  has  always  been  looked  upon  as  sacred.^ 
The  symbol  is  associated  with  Isis  and  Diana ;  the 
latter,  being  the  goddess  who  had  power  over  moisture, 
was  symbolised  in  this  aspect  by  a  crab — the  most 
obvious  and  ancient  symbol  of  the  reproductive  power 
of  water  being  the  fish.^  The  fish  is  also  the  emblem 
of  Dagon,  the  fish  god  of  the  Phoenicians,  and  in  this 
connection  may  have  found  its  way  into  North  Africa. 

The    fish    symbol    was    adopted    by    Christianity. 

^  At  Sousse  there  is  an  annual  feast  when  fish  are  fed.     (Dr.  Bertholon, 
Essai  sur  la  Religion  des  Libyens,  p.  62.) 
*  E.  K.  Elworthy,  The  Evil  Eye,  r-  22?. 


478  'TWIXT   SAND    AND    SEA 

Christians,  to  account  for  and  to  justify  its  presence 
in  the  new  rehgion,  are  said  to  have  declared  that  they 
were  "  as  fish,"  being  *'  born  again  of  water."  An 
elaborate  anagram  upon  the  Greek  word  Ichthus, 
"  Jesus  Christ,  the  Son  of  God,  the  Saviour,"  is  also 
said  to  have  been  invented  as  a  reason  for  the  adoption 
of  the  fish  as  a  Christian  sign.  But  this  idea  is  dis- 
credited by  some  authorities,  as  being  too  far  fetched. 

Seal  of  Solomon. — Amongst  the  symbols  found  in 
North  Africa,  perhaps  none  are  more  frequently  used 
than  the  figure  of  the  five-pointed  star,  called  the 
Pentagram  or  Seal  of  Solomon,^  and  the  hexagram 
''Signs  and  Symbols,"  Fig.  31),  formed  of  two  equi- 
lateral triangles  and  called  the  Shield  of  David. ^ 

In  Semitic  belief  the  number  five  has  always  been 
thought  to  be  possessed  of  peculiar  virtue,  and  magic 
qualities  may  have  been  attributed  to  the  Seal  of 
Solomon  because  of  its  five-pointed  form.  It  is  especi- 
ally used  as  a  charm  against  the  Djinn  or  Daemons. 
And  here  it  may  be  well  to  give  some  explanation  of 
these  mysterious  beings,  who  enter  so  largely  into  the 
Semitic  cult.     According  to  Mr.  Robertson  Smith — 

"  The  pagan  Arabs  believe  nature  to  be  full  of  living  beings  of  a 
superhuman  kind.  But  a  superhuman  being  is  not  necessarily  a  god. 
He  becomes  a  god  only  when  he  enters  into  stated  relations  with  man, 
or  rather  with  a  community  of  men.  And  the  Djinns  are  feared  and 
avoided  instead  of,  like  the  gods,  being  approached  with  reverential 
awe  and  hopeful  trust.  For  though  there  is  no  essential  physical 
distinction  between  demons  and  gods,  there  is  the  fundamental 
difference  that  the  former  are  strangers,  and  therefore  by  the  law  of 
the  desert  enemies,  while  the  gods  to  the  worshippers  who  frequent 

1  In  the  museum  at  Carthage  is  a  grostic  amulet.  On  each  side  is  a  figure 
with  a  halo  and  an  inscription.  On  one  side,  "  Depart,  O  hated  one — may 
the  Angel  Arcaph  pursue  you ;"  on  the  other,  "  Seal  of  Solomon,  help  me." 
The  rest  of  the  inscription  is  illegible.    (P^re  Delattre,  Rtd?ies  de  Carthage.) 

*  Jewish  Encyclopcedia, 


^^ 


SOME    SURVIVALS  479 

their  sanctuaries  are  a  familiar  and  friendly  power.  For  the  Jinn  has 
no  worshippers,  and  the  gods  themselves  become  Jinns  if  they  lose 
their  worshippers."  ^ 

Man  in  conquering  the  earth  for  himself  has  had  to 
contend  against  these  unknown  daemons  ;  where  they 
reign,  there  he  is  afraid  to  set  his  foot. 

The  Djinn  are  able  to  assume  the  forms  of  various 
animals  ;  but  as  the  anthropomorphic  idea  has  grown 
and  developed,  the  Djinn,  in  common  with  the  gods, 
are  more  generally  supposed  to  take  the  form  of  man  ; 
and  the  supernatural  animals  of  the  original  concep- 
tion appear  as  the  beasts  on  which  they  ride.^ 

From  these  dreaded  beings,  however,  it  is  possible, 
by  means  of  talismans,  to  procure  protection — even, 
indeed,  to  obtain  their  services.  And  no  man  ever 
gained  such  absolute  authority  and  power  over  them 
as  did  Suleiman  ibn  Daoud,  the  son  of  David.  This 
King,  who  is  looked  upon  as  the  most  wonderful 
magician  that  ever  lived,  and  is  said  to  have  been 
monarch  over  the  whole  earth,  possessed  a  very 
powerful  talisman — a  ring  which,  it  was  said,  came 
from  heaven.^  It  was  engraved  with  the  great  name 
of  God,  and  was  composed  partly  of  brass,  partly  of 
iron.     With  the  brass  He  sealed  His  written  commands 

^  Religion  of  the  Setnites,  pp.  119  ^Z  seq.  (condensed). 

^  The  serpent,  however,  a  creature  of  which  men  have  a  peculiar  horror 
and  fear,  has  still  retained  its  supernatural  character.  (Robertson  Smith, 
Religion  of  the  Semites,  p.  130.) 

'  Solomon's  ring,  upon  which  his  kingdom  depended,  is  said  to  have 
been  stolen  from  him  by  a  devil  who  assumed  the  King's  form  and  managed 
to  deceive  Amina,  one  of  his  concubines,  into  whose  care  the  ring  had  been 
entrusted.  By  means  of  this  trick  the  devil  became  possessed  of  the 
kingdom,  and  sat  on  the  throne,  making  what  alterations  in  the  law  he 
pleased.  After  a  space  of  forty  days  Sakhar,  the  devil,  flew  away  and  threw 
the  signet  into  the  sea.  It  was  immediately  swallowed  by  a  fish,  which, 
being  caught  and  taken  to  Solomon,  he  found  the  ring  in  its  belly.  Having 
by  this  means  recovered  his  kingdom,  he  tied  a  great  stone  round  Sakhar's 
neck  and  threw  him  into  the  Lake  of  Tiberias.  (Sales'  Translation  of 
Talmudic  Fable.) 


48o  'TWIXT    SAND   AND   SEA 

to  the  good  Djinn  ;  with  the  iron  to  the  evil  ones. 
Here  once  more  we  have  an  instance  of  the  magical 
qualities  with  which  this  latter  metal  is  endowed 
against  the  powers  of  evil,  or  Djinn,  who  were  legendary 
creatures  of  the  Stone  Age,  to  whom  the  new  invention 
of  iron  was  thought  to  be  obnoxious.  Suleiman  is 
said  to  have  had  unhmited  powers  over  both  good  and 
evil  Djinn,  over  birds  and  beasts,  the  winds  and  nature 
generally.  By  virtue  of  this  wonderful  charm,  his  seal, 
he  is  said  to  have  compelled  the  Djinn  to  assist  in  the 
building  of  the  Temple  of  Jerusalem.  Many  of  them 
he  converted  to  the  true  faith  ;  and  many  of  those  who 
remained  obstinate  he  confined  in  prison.^ 

No  wonder  that  the  symbol  with  which  this  ring 
was  engraved  is  considered  a  potent  talisman. ^  In 
North  Africa  it  is  worked  into  the  arabesques  of  the 
mosques,  and  is  painted  or  carved  on  bas-reliefs  over 
or  upon  the  doors  of  houses.  It  is  engraved  upon 
tombstones  and  personal  ornaments. 

The  Palm. — But  even  the  popularity  of  the  Seal  of 
Solomon  pales  before  that  of  the  palm,  or  the  palm- 
leaf,  as  a  symbol  in  North  Africa.  It  may  safely  be 
said  that  there  is  hardly  any  building  upon  which  it  is 
not  somewhere  to  be  found,  in  some  form  or  other,  for 
it  has  been  thought  that  the  device  upon  stelae  and 
other  stones  generally  supposed  to  be  the  pineapple 
is  really  the  spathe  of  the  male  palm-flower.'    The 

»  "  We  made  the  wind  subject  to  him  ;  it  ran  gently  at  his  command, 
whithersoever  he  directed.  And  we  also  put  the  devils  in  subjection  under 
him,  and  among  them  such  as  were  every  way  skilled  in  building  and  in 
diying  for  pearls  ;  and  others  we  delivered  to  him  bound  in  chains,  saying 
this  is  our  gift  ;  therefore  be  bounteous,  or  be  sparing  unto  whom  thou  shall 
think  fit,  without  rendering  an  account."     {Al  Koran,  chap,  xxxviii.  p.  342.) 

*  The  principal  marabout  of  the  Ouled  Sidi  Cheikh  possesses  a  mys- 
terious ring  on  which  is  engraved  the  Seal  of  Solomon.  To  the  profane 
this  ring  is  said  to  be  invisible.     (Pere  Delattre,  Les  Kuines  de  Carthage.) 

»  M.  Louis  Siret.     {Anihropologie,  1909.) 


SOME   SURVIVALS  481 

palm  appears  upon  nearly  all  the  Carthaginian  stelae, 
especially  upon  those  dedicated  to  the  great  African 
god  Hammon,  but  it  has  also  been  found  upon  objects 
dating  from  a  civilisation  earlier  than  the  Punic. '^ 
M.  Ohnefalsch-Richter  thinks  that  it  is  a  Mycenian 
symbol.  It  was  certainly  an  ancient  Libyan  one 
before  the  foundation  of  Carthage.^  The  palm  also 
was  the  great  Libyan  totem. 

The  conventional  hand,  the  five  fingers  having  a 
common  shaft,  bears  so  close  a  resemblance  to  the 
device  of  the  palm-leaf  that  it  is  difficult  sometimes 
to  distinguish  between  the  two.  The  illustrations 
("Signs  and  Symbols,"  Figs.  22  and  23)  are  symbols 
which  appear  always  upon  the  wall  or  door  of  a 
house  in  North  Africa  wherein  a  marriage  is  about  to 
take  place,  and  are  called  the  marriage  sign.  They 
are  always  very  large,  reaching  nearly  from  the  eaves 
of  the  house  to  the  ground,  or  covering  almost  the 
whole  of  the  door,  and  are  painted  white.  In  Tunis 
and  Kairouan  they  are  especially  in  use,  and  as 
marriages  are  of  everyday  occurrence,  and  the  signs 
are  left  upon  the  house  afterwards,  it  may  be  imagined 
how  common  and  frequent  they  are. 

It  only  remains  to  speak  of  the  signs  and  symbols 
that  we  found  at  Tebessa  in  that  portion  of  the  monas- 
tery which  was  built  in  the  early  part  of  the  fifth 
century  B.C.,  and  afterwards  used  by  the  Byzantines 
as  a  cavalry  barracks,  or  as  a  stable  for  their  horses.^ 

The  signs  (''Signs  and  Symbols,"  Figs.  1-21) 
are  probably  mason  marks,  placed  upon  each  stone 
as  it  was  finished  by  the  man  who  cut  it  in  order 

^  M.  Ohnefalsch-Richter   has  found  it    upon  a  vase  of  Vaphio.     (Dr. 
Bertholon.) 

^  The   garments  of  the    Libyan  chiefs  represented  upon  the  tomb  of 
Seti  I.  are  ornamented  with  branches  of  palm-leaves.     (Dr.  Bertholon.) 

3  Cf.  p.  230. 

2H 


482  TWIXT   SAND   AND    SEA 

to  identify  his  work.  Possibly  they  possess  no  further 
significance  or  interest.  Yet  as  you  wander  in  the 
silence  of  that  ruined  hall,  whose  walls  have  echoed  to 
the  voices  of  the  monks,  to  the  shouts  of  the  Donatist 
wreckers,  and  the  jests  and  laughter  of  the  Byzantine 
soldiery,  every  sign,  every  symbol  becomes  a  human 
document — a  sealed  book  it  may  be  as  yet,  pos- 
sibly one  of  which  the  seals  will  never  be  broken. 
Mystery  broods  over  North  Africa,  and  the  mystery 
draws  you  on,  and  makes  you  long  to  dig  deep, 
where  as  yet  the  surface  has  hardly  been  disturbed. 


^^«iii,,iii,^>iC 


^ 


H 


Uta/i/i/'di   O'cf^^  S>Ctd4/ff  Lunaion- 


INDEX 


Abbaside  Khalifahs,  248,  252 

Abd  Allah  ibn  ez  Zobeir,  236,  237 

Abd-el-Melek,  Khalifah,  244 

Abd-el-Moumen,  a  young  Berber 
(discipleof  IbnToumert),  252,  253  ; 
takes  Bougie  and  puts  an  end  to 
the  dynasty  of  the  Hammadites, 
254  ;  his  genius  and  administrative 
power,  254  ;   his  death,  255 

Abizar  stele,  330,  331 

Abou  Abd  Allah,  246  ;  puts  to 
flight  Ziadet  Allah,  the  last  of  the 
Aghlebites,  247 

Abou  Bekr,  Khalifah,  232  ;   dies,  233 

Abou  Tachefin,  King  of  Tlemcen,  300 

Abou  Temmim  el  Moezz  ibn  Badis, 
249,  262 

Abou  Yezed,  the  Sofrite,  248 

Admiral,  derivation  of  name,  276 

Adoption,  a  ceremony  of,  244 

iEgusa,  island  of  (Favignano),  43 

iEneas,  3,  74,  193 

^sculapius,  17,  92 

Aetius,  198,  199 

Africa,  an  empire  for  the  Romans, 
a  parallel,  74  ;  the  Canada  and 
America  of  Rome,  108  ;  a  single 
sway,  254 

Agathocles,  22 

Ager  Sexti,  186 

Aghlebites,  dynasty  of  the,  246  ; 
basin  of  the,  262,  267 

Agonistici,  the,  177 

Agriculture,  scientific,  1 3, 107  ;  ruined, 
277  ;  Roman  influence  on,  446 

Agrigentum  (Girgenti),  41 

Agrippinus,  Bishop  of  Carthage,  160 

Aid-el-Kebir,  the  feast  of,  preparing 
for,  391  ;  "gifts,"  391  ;  a  pro- 
cession and  a  song,  391,  392; 
procession  of  worshippers,  393  ; 
the  Marabout  of  Biskra,  395  ; 
sacrifice,  396,  397 

Aigues  Mortes,  225 

Ain  Tounga,  ruins  of,  153 

Aissaouas,  Moslem  sect,  self-inflicted 
tortures,  179,  433  ;  confraternity 
of,    425        26 :      initiation,    427  ; 


special  service,  430;  435  ;    rites  of, 
24,  467 
"  Al  Batul,"  the  beautiful  Fatimah, 

473 
"  Alahou  Akbar,"  394,  413 
Alani,  Suevi,  and   Burgundians,   the 

Vandals  join  the,  197 
Alaric,  200 
Alexandrian  Library,  destruction  of, 

233 

Algeria:  Juball.,  81;  Roman  ruins, 
221  ;  Eastern,  ruins,  123 

Algiers  (El-Djezair),  273  ;  Pefion 
seized  by  the  Spaniards,  273  ;  the 
thorn  in  the  heart,  273  ;  held  by 
Kheir-ed-din,  274,  275  ;  Peiion 
captured  by  Kheir-ed-din,  275  ; 
mole  and  harbour,  275,  291,  294; 
crusade  against,  276  ;  gains  the 
character  of  being  impregnable, 
276  ;    links  with  Turkey  weaken, 

278  ;   real  power  with  the  soldiery, 

279  ;  standing  army,  278  ;  rein- 
forcements, 278  ;  titles  and  offices, 
279  ;  Corsair  stronghold,  278  ;  an 
open  sore,  279,  280  ;  martyrdom 
of  Geronimo,  283-285  ;  Bordj 
Setti  TakeUlt  ("  Fort  des  Vingt- 
quatre  Heures  "),  284  ;  new  vessels 
and  fleet,  285,  286,  289  ;  battle 
of  Algiers,  289  ;  description,  291  ; 
population  and  outline  of  remains 
of  Turkish  town,  290,  291  ;  Turkish 
restrictions,  292  ;  places  of  execu- 
tion of  Turkish  Algiers,  292,  293  ; 
fortifications,  294  ;    key  of  Algiers, 

294  ;  situation  of  the  Pefion,  294  ; 
second  mole,  295  ;  Turkish  garri- 
son and  fleet,  beginning  of  the 
nineteenth  century,  296,  297  ;  Tur- 
kish  fortifications   of    the    Pefion, 

295  ;  property  of  women  in 
Turkish  Algiers,  297  ;  entry  of 
the  French,  294  ;  Place  du  Gou- 
vernement,  294,  295  ;  French  har- 
bour, 295  ;  mosques,  295  ;  Arab 
Gate  of  the  Lions,  295  ;  Arab 
town,    298  ;     remaining    pavilion. 


483 


INDEX 


Abbaside  Khalifahs,  248,  252 

Abd  Allah  ibn  ez  Zobeir,  236,  237 

Abd-el-Melek,  Khalifah,  244 

Abd-el-Moumen,  a  young  Berber 
(disciple  of  Ibn  Toumert),  252,  253  ; 
takes  Bougie  and  puts  an  end  to 
the  dynasty  of  the  Hammadites, 
254  ;  his  genius  and  administrative 
power,  254  ;   his  death,  255 

Abizar  stele,  330,  331 

Abou  Abd  Allah,  246  ;  puts  to 
flight  Ziadet  Allah,  the  last  of  the 
Aghlebites,  247 

Abou  Bekr,  Khalifah,  232  ;   dies,  233 

Abou  Tachefin,  King  of  Tlemcen,  300 

Abou  Temmim  el  Moezz  ibn  Badis, 
249,  262 

Abou  Yezed,  the  Sofrite,  248 

Admiral,  derivation  of  name,  276 

Adoption,  a  ceremony  of,  244 

^gusa,  island  of  (Favignano),  43 

iEneas,  3,  74,  193 

iEsculapius,  17,  92 

Aetius,  198,  199 

Africa,  an  empire  for  the  Romans, 
a  parallel,  74  ;  the  Canada  and 
America  of  Rome,  108  ;  a  single 
sway,  254 

Agathocles,  22 

Ager  Sexti,  186 

Aghlebites,  dynasty  of  the,  246  ; 
basin  of  the,  262,  267 

Agonistici,  the,  177 

Agriculture,  scientific,  1 3, 107  ;  ruined, 
277  ;  Roman  influence  on,  446 

Agrigentum  (Girgenti),  41 

Agrippinus,  Bishop  of  Carthage,  160 

Aid-el-Kebir,  the  feast  of,  preparing 
for,  391  ;  "  gifts,"  391  ;  a  pro- 
cession and  a  song,  391,  392  ; 
procession  of  worshippers,  393  ; 
the  Marabout  of  Biskra,  395  ; 
sacrifice,  396,  397 

Aigues  Mortes,  225 

Ain  Tounga,  ruins  of,  153 

Aissaouas,  Moslem  sect,  self-inflicted 
tortures,  179,  433  ;  confraternity 
of,    425        26 :      initiation,     427  ; 


special  service,  430;  435  ;    rites  of, 
24,  467 
"  Al  Batul,"  the   beautiful  Fatimah, 

473 
"  Alahou  Akbar,"  394,  413 
Alani,  Suevi,  and  Burgundians,   the 

Vandals  join  the,  197 
Alaric,  200 
Alexandrian  Library,  destruction  of, 

233 

Algeria:  Juba  II.,  81  ;  Roman  ruins, 
221  ;  Eastern,  ruins,  123 

Algiers  (El-Djezair),  273  ;  Penon 
seized  by  the  Spaniards,  273  ;  the 
thorn  in  the  heart,  273  ;  held  by 
Kheir-ed-din,  274,  275  ;  Peiion 
captured  by  Kheir-ed-din,  275  ; 
mole  and  harbour,  275,  291,  294; 
crusade  against,  276  ;  gains  the 
character  of  being  impregnable, 
276  ;    links  with  Turkey  weaken, 

278  ;   real  power  with  the  soldiery, 

279  ;  standing  army,  278  ;  rein- 
forcements, 278  ;  titles  and  offices, 
279  ;  Corsair  stronghold,  278  ;  an 
open  sore,  279,  280  ;  martyrdom 
of  Geronimo,  283-285  ;  Bordj 
Setti  TakeUlt  ("  Fort  des  Vingt- 
quatre  Heures  "),  284  ;  new  vessels 
and  fleet,  285,  286,  289  ;  battle 
of  Algiers,  289  ;  description,  291  ; 
population  and  outline  of  remains 
of  Turkish  town,  290,  291  ;  Turkish 
restrictions,  292  ;  places  of  execu- 
tion of  Turkish  Algiers,  292,  293  ; 
fortifications,  294  ;    key  of  Algiers, 

294  ;  situation  of  the  Penon,  294  ; 
second  mole,  295  ;  Turkish  garri- 
son and  fleet,  beginning  of  the 
nineteenth  century,  296,  297  ;  Tur- 
kish  fortifications   of    the    Peiion, 

295  ;  property  of  women  in 
Turkish  Algiers,  297  ;  entry  of 
the  French,  294  :  Place  du  Gou- 
vernement,  294,  295  ;  French  har- 
bour, 295  ;  mosques,  295  ;  Arab 
Gate  of  the  Lions,  295  ;  Arab 
town,    298  ;     remaining    paviUon, 


483 


484 


INDEX 


296  ;  archbishop's  palace,  296,  299  ; 
public  library,  299 
Ali,  the  Prophet's  adopted  son,  236, 

237 

Ali  Khodja,  299 

Al-Koran,  480 

"  Allah  Akbar,"  235,  415 

Allen,  Sir  Thomas,  and  the  Algerian 
fleet,  289 

Almohade  ("  Traditionist  ")  Kingdom 
of  the  West,  254 

Almoravides,  251-253 

Alps,  Hannibal  forces  the,  49 

Ambrose  of  Milan,  i8i,  182 

Ammatus,  212 

Ammon,  an  autochthonous  god  of 
the  Libyans,  20.  21 

Amor  Abbada,  Si,  the  marabout, 
sabres  of,  267  ;   pipe  of,  267 

Amphitheatre,  the,  81,  91,  105,  106, 
108  ;  of  Thysdrus  (El  Djem),  106, 
123,  129;  the  shows,  138;  com- 
parisons, &c.,  140,  144  ;  of  Car- 
thage, 189, 190 

Amphorse,  wall  of,  remains,  192 

Amr  ibn  al  Asi,  233 

Amulet,  330,  331,  475  ;  camel,  330, 
476  ;    horse,  476 

Andalucia,  198 

Anio,  Hannibal's  camp  on  the,  51 

Ankh,  the,  sign  of  life,  27,  32 

Announa  (Tibilis),  322 

Antalus,  African  chieftain,  219 

Antiochus,  46 

Apolinaris,  the  Church  of,  139 

Apollo,  21  ;  colossal  statue  of,  191  ; 
statue  of  the  Forum,  194 

Apology,  the,  TertuUian,  162 

Appian,  62 

Appropriation  of  arch  for  inscription 
to  Solomon,  the  Byzantine  general, 
126,  226 

Apuleius,  148,  190,  224 

Aquse  Tibilitina;,  323,  327,  329 

Aqueducts,  91  ;  where  found,  106, 
1 10,  154,  158.  159,  185,  187 

Arab  invaders,  75,  95,  140,  220,  236  ; 
village,  140,  187:  first  settle- 
ment in  Africa,  240  ;  inscription, 
early  Kufic,  242  ;  town  in  Algiers, 
298  ;  Arabs,  303  ;  guides, two  pretty 
little,  340  ;  an  Arab  guide,  361  ; 
grace  of  women,  377  ;  great  general, 
380;  saying,  417;  stories  of  the 
end  of  the  world,  422 

Archfeological  Society  of  Constantine, 

"3 
Archbishop's  palace  at  Algiers,  296, 

299 
Arches,  89,  91,  92,  99,  106,  124,  126  ; 


arch  of  two  openings,  125  ;  three, 
125;  four-sided,  125:158,  162,  222  ; 
arch  of  Caracalla,  226  ;  of  Bab  er 
Roumia,  309  ;  natural,  337; — horse- 
shoe, 260 

Architecture,  Punic,  343 

Arians,  the,  201,  206;  clergy,  209; 
Vandals,  211,  234  ;  Heruli,  Arians, 
217  ;   Arianism  of  the  Vandals,  235 

Aroudj,  273;  as  a  Reis,  273,  274; 
elected  Sultan  of  Djidjelli,  274 ; 
repulsed  at  Bougie  by  the  Span- 
iards, 274  ;  makes  himself  master 
of  Algiers,  274  ;  seizes  Tenes,  274  ; 
takes  advantage  of  invitation  to 
seize  Tlemcen,  275  ;  driven  out 
and  killed  by  Spanish  Governor  of 
Oran,  275  ;   296 

Arretium  (Arezzo),  49 

Arsenal,  Byrsa,  64 

Art,  I  5  ;  Arab,  264  ;  Turkish  and 
Arab,  267  ;  Berber,  331,  338  ; 
Carthaginian,  345  ;  primitive,  407  ; 
hand-painted  pictures,  407  ;  in 
Medinine,  452 

Artesian  well  at  Tolga,  404 

Artistic  taste  amongst  the  Matmatas, 

445 
Ashtart,  Ashtoreth,  4,  30 
Aspar,  relieves  Hippo,  201 
Assessments,  12,  107,  216 
Ataban,  inscription  to,  in  Lybian  and 

Punic,  12,  343 
Athaliah,  3 
Athena,  431 

Atlas  Mountains,  the,  307 
Attila,  199,  203 
Augustine    (story   of   Alypius),   141  ; 

161,  181  ;  founds  a  monastery,  182, 

230;   184,  190,  200,  229 
Augustus,  75,  80 
Aulus,  Consul,  his  army  defeated  by 

Jugurtha,  78 
Aures  Mountains,  86,   224,  225,  393, 

402  ;    battle,    243  ;    Zenete   tribe, 

243 
Austere  doctrines  and  fanaticism,  251, 

252 
Ayishah,  232,  237,  388 

Baal,  Baalim,  19  ;   "  Baal,  hear  us," 

425 
Bab-el-Oued,  theforts  at,  292 
Baby  camel,  a,  376 
Bacchus  (Dionysus),  331 
Baghdad,  the  Khalifah  of,  Haroun-al- 

Raschid,  246 
Baraka,  the  gift  of,   354,   368,   395  ; 

and  the  rites  of  inagic,  427 
Barbary,  the  freedom  of.  244 


INDEX 


485 


Barca,  B areas,  Berk,  Barak,  signi- 
fication, 42,  409 

Bardo  at  Tunis,  24,  ill,  120,  130, 
158,  191 

Bare  hills  once  clothed,  290 

Barrages,  106,  no,  244 

Barren  hills  and  treeless  wastes,  87, 

105,  123.  139,  224,  446,  456 
Basilica,   the  great,   "  the   House  of 

Love,"  at  Carthage,  194 

Bas-reliefs,  196,  330,  443,  477 

Baths  of  the  Accursed,  321 

Baths  of  the  Saints,  324 

Batna,  French  garrison  town  of,  87 

Battles,  Rome  and  Carthage,  and 
their  allies,  first  Punic  war,  39- 
43  ;  second,  48-55  ;  Carthage  and 
Masinissa,  57,  58  ;  third  Punic 
war,  89  ;  siege  of  Carthage,  65-67  ; 
insubordination  punished  by  Car- 
thage, 68  ;  new  Carthaginian  war- 
ships, 69,  70  ;  wholesale  slaughter 
of  Carthaginian  allies,  71  ;  carnage, 
72 

Beads,  telling  of,  266 

Beaks  of  Carthaginian  vessels  adorn 
triumph  of  Duilius,  40 

Bedouins,  the,  a  family,  377  ;  gar- 
ments of  women,  428 

Beginnings  of  Christianity,  the,  160 

Behsarius,  153,  209,  «io-2i8,  220; 
"  triumphs  "  of,  213,  214  ;  as  ad- 
ministrator, 213 

Behtzar,  the  "  White  Prince,"  Beli- 
sarius,  210 

Ben  Kassem,  legend  of,  341 

Beni  Hillal  and  Beni  Soleim,  the, 
nomad  tribes  of  Arabia,  249  ;  ex- 
pelled to  Egypt,  249  ;  driven  into 
Upper  Egypt,  249  ;  pour  into 
Africa,  250  ;   the  Hillal  Arabs,  254 

Beni  KaUfa,  the  tribe  of,  322 

Benson,  Archbishop,  173 

Berbers,  the,  Libyans,  26  ;  Berber 
tribe  of  the  Maxyes,  6  ;  origin  of 
name,  75  ;    a  Berber  church,    96; 

106,  130;  heroine,  140,  215,  243, 
441  ;  the  old  stock,  159;  the 
Berber  nature,  175  ;  States  during 
Byzantine  occupation,  220  ;  re- 
ligious beUefs,  234  ;  Borghouata 
Berbers,  235,  251  ;  Arab  invasion, 
236  ;  Mohammedan  dissent,  239  ; 
recovery  of  independence,  242  ; 
the  Omeiade  kingdoms  in  Spain, 
244  ;  revolt  and  massacre,  245  ; 
whole  country  essentially  Berber, 
249  ;  new  flood  of  invasion,  249  ; 
a  new  trouble,    250  ;     collapse   of 

;    rule,    255  ;     religious    and    racial 


differences,  303  ;  Kabyles  and  the 
dolmens,  314;  art,  331  ;  natural 
disposition,  333  ;  subjugation  of, 
373  ;  Matmata  Arabs,  440  ;  tena- 
city, 441  ;  the  struggle  for  life,  447 

Berger,  M.,  32 

Bertholon,  Dr.,  18,  19,  26,  29,  32, 
326,  331,  432,  467,  481 

Beule,  excavations  of,  62 

Bibhcal  metaphor  in  mosaics,  1 14 

BiUngual  inscription  from  the  mauso- 
leum of  Dougga,  now  in  British 
Museum,  12,  343 

Birds  :  pigeons,  378  ;  falcon,  372, 
402 

Birs,  the  primitive  wells,  456 

Biskra  (Vescera,  Bescera),  87,  242, 
324  ;  Mecca  of  the  casual  tourist, 
360;  the  real  Biskra,  361;  398, 
467  ;  Moh'arrem  parade,  467  ;  the 
lion  play,  468 

Bithyas,  a  Numidian  sheik,  69,  71,  73 

Blacksmith,  the,  regarded  as  the 
superior  artisan,  455 

Blake,  Robert,  46  ;  victory  over  the 
Corsairs  at  Tunis,  288  ;  release  of 
British  slaves,  288,  289 

Bled  Kebira,  populous  village  of, 
439,  441  ;  site,  as  seen  from  the 
mountain,  442  ;   Matmatas  of,  445 

Bleeding   and   cauterisation,    native, 

452.  453 
Blockade  of  Panormos  (Palermo),  41 
Boadicea,  the  African,  243 
Bocchus,  King  of  Mauretania,  78,  79 
Boetica,  198 

Bogad,  King  of  Mauretania,  79 
Boiling  springs,  316,  322,  324 
Boissier,  64 
Bomilcar,  193 
Bon,  Cape,  186 
Boniface,  Count,  199-202,  206  ;    and 

Placidia,  199-201 
Booty,  percentages  of,  273 
Borda,  La,  the  poem,  416 
Bordj-el-Djedid,  the  new  fort,  8,  63, 

64,  106,  194 
Borghouata  Berbers,  235,  251 
Borghouata,    the,    a   Koran  of  their 

own  written  in  the  Berber  tongue, 

235.  251 
Born  story-teller,  a,  371,  424 
Bou  Kornein,  22,  24,  45 
Bou  Saada,  459 
Bougie,  272,  274 
Bourmont,  General  de,  289 
Brass  and  iron  of   King  Suleiman's 

ring,  and  the  Djinn,  479,  480 
Britain,  16,  180,  197 
British  Museum,  12,  344 


486 


INDEX 


Bronze  and  silver  gilt  ornaments  in 
Dolmens,  315 

Brooch  with  symbol  of  Tanith,  worn 
by  Berber  women,  32 

Builders,  the  great,  of  North  Africa, 
300  ;   Moslem,  260,  263 

Bull's  hide,  story  of  the,  5 

Burgum  Commodianum,  87 

Burial,  modes  and  customs  of.  13,  18, 
121  ;  clubs  and  cemeteries  of  early 
Christians,  165,  166;  in  the  dol- 
mens, 314  ;  a  burial  service,  413  ; 
the  Matmatas,  441; 

Burnous,  363,  365,"  378,  380,  385, 
391,  428 

Buruk,  the,  409  ;  and  the  lightning, 
409 

Business  aptitude  of  the  Cartha- 
ginians, 1 1 

Busts  (three  portrait),  82 

Byrsa,  the  city  of  Elissar,  5,  185  ; 
the  central  shrine,  9  ;  new  cathe- 
dral, 186,  191  ;  in  the  fortifica- 
tions, 64  ;  hill  of,  fortress,  or 
kasbah,  9,  71  ;  the  last  scenes  in 
the  siege,  72  ;  site  of  the  city,  9  ; 
two  little  ponds,  186,  192  ;  a  piece 
of  wall,  191  ;  Proconsular  Palace, 
scenes  during  persecution,  144,  169, 
172 

Byzacene,  the,  and  Solomon,  216  ; 
and  Arab  invaders,  239,  240 

Byzantines,  the,  195,  210,  220,  234, 
236,  240,  243,  481  ;  fortresses,  101, 
103,  126,  216,  221,  222;  descrip- 
tion, 223,  225;  392;  walls,  154, 
225 

Cadel,  Commandant,  356 

Caecilian,  177 

Caelius,  109 

Cajsar,  Julius,    75  ;     his  dream,   75  ; 

79 
Csesarea  (Cherchel),  81,  214,  238 
Cairo    (El    Kahira),    founded    by   El 

Moezz  ed-din  Allah,  247 
Caius  Claudius,  38 
Calcareous   deposits,    316,    321,    322, 

324.  325 

Caligula,  81 

Call  of  the  marabout,  349,  354 

Call  to  prayer,  388 

Calpurnius,  Consul,  77 

Calvin,  182 

Camel,  the,  105,  268  ;  camel's  salad, 
268,  399  ;  amulet,  330,  476  ;  cara- 
van, 356  :  with  mules,  399  :  with 
donkeys,  457  ;  a  "  charm,"  370  ; 
its  resignation,  375,  376  ;  camel- 
riding,  398  ;    racing  camels,  461 


Caminus,  1 16 

"  Canaanite,"  usual  Carthaginian 
term,  6;  the  African  farmer,  6; 
the  name  Canaan,  parallels,  75 

Candlestick,  seven-branched,  wan- 
derings of,  214 

Canna;,  50 

Cape  Kamart,  187 

Capellianus,  168 

Capttol  of  Lambaisis,  91,  loi  ; 
Timgad,  100;  Sufetula  (Sbeitla), 
loi  ;  Dougga,  157,  222  ;  Carthage, 
bronze  tiles  of,  204  ;  Thugga, 
view  of,  309  ;  Capitoline  Temple 
at  Carthage,  192 

Capua,  51 

Caractacus,  the,  Berber,  243 

Carthage,  founding  of,  3  ;  Cothon 
(harbour),  3  ;  city  of  Elissar,  5, 
7;  remains,  13;  a  Sidonian  city, 
6  ;  ground  rent,  6  ;  site  of,  7,  61  ; 
the  isthmus,  7  ;  Cape  Carthage, 
8,  167,  185  ;  Pharos  and  light- 
house, 8,  185,  186;  traces  of  the 
beginning  of  the  city,  8  ;  the 
cemeteries,  8,  13,  14,  122;  ear- 
liest settlement,  8  ;  fortress  hill  of 
Byrsa,  9,  71  ;  harbours  (Cothon), 
3.  9.  63,  64,  243  ;  line  of  quays,  9, 
63  ;  the  Forum,  9,  3^'  7i.  ^93  '> 
the  market,  9  ;  government,  9 ; 
the  great  families,  of,  10,  16  ; 
architecture,  lo  ;  influence  of 
Greece  and  Egypt,  11;  a  naval 
power  only,  11,  36,  37;  territory 
annexed  by  the  Romans  as  "  Pro- 
vincia  Africa,"  12,  75  ;  inter- 
marriage and  alliance,  12,  343  ; 
religion,  17  ;  population,  17,  65  ; 
the  Pceni,  a  comparison,  17  ; 
common  language,  18  ;  dominant, 
comparison  of  English  flag,  36 ; 
replies  to  advance  of  Rome,  38  ; 
new  Carthage  (Carthagena),  46, 
52  ;  invested  by  P.  Scipio,  53  ; 
surrenders  her  fleet,  61  ;  fortifica- 
tions, 61-64  ;  land  frontage,  61  ; 
sea  frontage,  61  ;  walls,  62-64 ; 
great  triple  wall,  62,  64  ;  naval 
port  and  dockyard,  63,  64  ;  siege, 
65  ;  a  seventeen  days'  conflagra- 
tion, 7;}  ;  churches,  194  ;  a  pirate 
stronghold,  203  ;  a  second  time 
levelled  to  the  ground,  243 

Carthaginian  story  of  Roman  Senate, 
10  ;  millionaires  and  Greek  art,  10  ; 
territory,  limits  of,  12  ;  army,  re- 
cruiting of,  12  ;  fleet,  discipUne, 
tactics,  38 

Carthaginians,  the,  "  Canaanites,"  6  ; 


INDEX 


487 


use  "  paper  "  money,  11;  natural 
disposition,  1 1  ;  declare  war  against 
Rome,  38  ;  new  departure  in  ship- 
building, taken  advantage  of  by 
Rome,  38,  39  ;  outburst  of  en- 
thusiastic heroism,  41  ;  desperate 
valour,  70  ;  crucifixion  of  sheiks, 
41  ;  make  peace  with  Rome,  43  ; 
conditions  repudiated,  54  ;  new 
terms,  55  ;  surrender  fleet  and 
arms,  60,  61  ;  outburst  of  furious 
resentment  against  Rome,  61  ; 
preparations  for  defence  in  swift 
desperation,  61  ;  fire-ships,  65  ; 
Pythian  games,  191 
Carton,  Dr.,  26,  118 
Carvings,   15,  29,  81,   loi,   196,  260, 

262,  264,  265,  477 
Cascade  of  boiling  water,  323,  327 
Castile,  suzerainty  of  the  kings  of,  255 
Cathedral  mosque  at  Algiers,  296 
Cato,  Marcus,  57  ;   dictum  of,  58,  66, 

73 

Catulus,  Gaius  Lutatius,  Consul,  43 

Catulus,  Publius  Valerius,  43 

Cave-dwellers,  fable  as  fact,  438 

Cedars,  105 

Cemetery  of  Macrobius  Candidianus, 
173  ;  a  vast  Christian,  194  ;  a  way- 
side, 403,  414  ;  cemetery  at  Biskra, 
414  ;  cemeteries  of  Roman  officials, 
188 

Censers,  362 

Censorinus,  Lucius,  Consul,  60,  65 

Ceramic  art  in  its  infancy,  314 

Ceres,  Coelestis,  19 

Changarnier,  337 

Change,  the  philosophy  of,  411 

Chant,  funeral,  416 

Chapel  of  St.  Louis  of  France,  191 

Charioteer,  a  famous,  131 

Charioteering  factions,  131 

Charles  V.,  the  Emperor,  293,  294 

Charm,  to  bring  fruitfulness,  a,  370  ; 
"  charms,"  for  luck,  472 

Chart  of  the  winds,  157 

Cheikh  of  the  Matmatas,  442 

Cherifs  of  Fez,  276 

Chetma,  373,  376 

Children,  fun  for  the,  397  ;  sacrifice 
of,  426 

Chimneys,  question  of,  in  Roman 
houses,  116 

Chotts  (salt  shallows  or  swamps),  307 

Christian  basilica,  155,  194;  Chris- 
tian Church  at  Tunis,  271 

Christian,  execution  of  a  young,  288 

Christians,  early,  141  ;  Christiani  ad 
Leones,  142 

Church  and   the  mosque,  the,   their 


exterior  relations  to  the  village 
surroundings,  383 

Church,  early  Christian,  in  North 
Africa,  142,  160,  161  ;  time  of 
Constantinc,  a  comparison,  179  ; 
her  possessions  restored  by  Beli- 
sarius,  214 

Circumcelliones,  sect  of  fanatics, 
calling  themselves  "  Agonistici," 
177  ;  form  marauding  groups,  178, 
234.  245 

Circus,  the,  81,  108,  129;  the  first, 
129;  133;  at  Carthage,  136,  190, 
226  ;    Roman,  view  of,  309 

Cirta  (the  Kirtha,  city,  Constan- 
tine),  12  ;  Scipio  visits  Syphax, 
52  ;  Masinissa,  53,  56  ;  Mecipsa, 
76  ;  Jugurtha,  76,  77,  78  ;  Gunda, 
79  ;  Sittius,  80  ;  defies  Genseric, 
202  ;  a  palatinate,  214  ;  the  great 
roads,  224  ;  a  strong  natural  for- 
tress, 256,  334  ;  native  metropolis, 
334  ;  the  Kasba,  334  ;  besieged 
eighty  times,  taken  twice,  256, 
334  ;  the  French,  334,  337.  338  ; 
the  dead,  417 

Cisterns,  systems  of,  13,  106,  no, 
122,  133,  154,  158,  159,  173,  187, 
194,  244  ;   for  ablutions,  259 

Cities  of  the  dead,  prehistoric,  310, 
312 

Claims,  the  perpetuation  of,  208 

Claims  upon  service,  84,  120,  205 

Classic  Arab  house,  and  the  dwellings 
of  the  Matmata,  442 

Classis,  vanished  city,  139 

Clausel,  Marshal,  337 

Cleopatra  Selene,  80,  338 

Clj'pea  (Kilibia),  40 

Ccelestis,  Ceres,  19 

C<rna  Libera,  144 

Coffee,  368,  410,  429 

Coins,  4,  75,  254 

Colossal  Apollo,  191  ;  victories,   192, 

343 
Coloured  pictures,  407 
Colours,  favourite  Moslem,  298,  376, 

379,  385,  418,  428 
Columna    Rostrata,     in    honour    of 

Duilius,  in  Roman  Forum,  40 
Columns   at  Timgad,    100,    loi  ;     of 

Temple    of    iEsculapius,    191  ;     of 

mosque  in  Algiers,  295 
Combe,  Sidonian  port  of,  3  ;  site  of, 

6 
Comedy,  the  decay  of,  148 
Commentary,  a,  118 
Commodus,  the  gladiator,  162 
Concrete,  284 
Cones,  memorial,  418 


488 


INDEX 


Cones,  spectacle  of  the,  316,  321,  322, 

327 
Conflagration,  a  seventeen  days',  73 
Conic  head-dress,  deity  with,  331 
Constantine,  178 
Convents    at    Carthage,    spread    of, 

through  the  country,  183 
Convivia,  146,  147 
Coptic  Christians,  233 
Corbulo,  58 
Cordova,  252 

Corinthian  columns,  89,  99 
Cork  trees,  forests  of,  105,  224 
Corsairs  of  Carthage,  210  ;    Barbary, 

203,    276,    280  ;     Algerines,    286  ; 

story,  287  ;   lair,  295  ;  301 
Cothon,  3,  9,  64,  193 
"  Coup  d'Eventail,"  289 
Covering  stone  of  a  Dolmen,  309 
Craters  at  Roknia  and  Meskoutine, 

324 

Creput,  Louis,  374 

Crimson  poppies,  428 

Cromwell,  288 

Cross  of  Cyprian,  186,  187 

Crucified  lions,  105,  156 

Cruelty  with  sensuaUty,  23 

Cults,  accumulation  of  old, 459;  pagan 
cult  among  the  Libyans,  460 

Cultivating  the  land,  the  Berbers 
under  Roman  influence,  446 

Cunctator,  Quintus  Fabius,  50  ; 
honours  and  encomiums,  54 

Curubis  (Kourba),  171 

Cyclopes,  mosaic  of  three  colossal,  158 

Cyprian,  Thrascius  Cyprianus,  refer- 
ence to  execution  of,  85  ;  160  ;  brief 
sketch,  167  ;  on  the  Church,  169  ; 
flight,  169;  exhortation,  170; 
power  of,  160,  171  ;  arrested, 
171  ;  banished,  171  ;  exhortation 
to  martyrdom,  171  ;  trial,  172  ; 
execution,  173  ;   burial,  173 

"  Dahiah  "  (Queen),  the  Berber,  243 
Daily  life  of  the  Roman  gentry,  in 

mosaics,  1 17 
Damous-el-Karita  (at  Carthage),  229 
Damremont,  General,  334,  337 
Dancing,  as  a  religious  ceremony,  368 
Danser,   Simon,    Flemish   buccaneer, 

285 
Daumas,  E.,  453 
Decaying  empires  of  Constantinople 

and  Persia,  233 
Decius,  edict,  169 
Declaration  of  policy  by  Omar  ibn  al 

Khattab,  233 
Decumanus  Maximus,  88,  96,  97,  98 
Defile  of  the  Hatchet,  45,  186 


Degeneracy  of  the  drama,  147 

Deification  of  food  supply,  108 

Delattre,  P6re,  23,  143,  331,  478 

Dflenda  est  Carthago,  57,  73 

Delft  tiles,  299 

Delirium,  religious,  437 

Delrio,  Martin,  of  Lou  vain,  on  fas- 
cination, 471 

Deogratias,  Bishop,  204 

Dermech,  194 

Description  of  North  Africa,  by 
Sallust,  104 

Desert,  life  of  the,  378,  380,  387 

Destruction  of  Carthage,  keystone  of 
the  policy  of  Rome,  58 

Deval,  French  Consul,  289 

Devotee,  a,  364 

Dido,  the,  3,  4,  74,  193 

Diego  Fernandez  de  Cordova,  272 

Diocletian,  176 

Direction  d'Agriculture,  the,  449 

Disloyalty,  charge  of,  against  early 
Christians,  142 

Divan,  the,  278 

Divining-rod,  the,  404 

Divinity,  mark  of,  associated  with 
Tanith,  32 

Division  of  Africa  under  Turkish 
rule,  27 

Division  of  territory  by  Second 
Triumvirate,  80 

Division  of  tracts  into  farms,  108 

Divorce,  360,  401 

Djabaliya,  tribe  of  the  (Berbers),  440 

Djama  Djedid  ("  Mosquee  de  la 
Pecherie  "),  296,  302  ;  built  by 
Turks  for  the  Hanefite  rite,   302, 

303 

Djama  Kebira  (Djama  Sidi  Okba), 
great  mosque  and  mosques  erected 
at  Kairouan,  258,  259  ;  Djama 
Kebira,  Algiers,  300 

Djebel  Abdullah  Cherid,  1 56  ;  Ahmor 
range,  7,  61,  185  ;  Debar,  311,  320 ; 
Gherar,  311;  Khaoui,  Kamart,  8,  67, 
167,  187  ;  origin  of  name  Khaoui, 
187  ;  Matmata,  439,  441  ;  Trozza, 
268  ;  Zaghouan,  io6,  156,  187, 
428 

Djedar  (tombs),  near  Tiaret,  220 

Djerba  (the  island  of  the  lotus-eaters), 

274 
Djidjelli,  200,  250,  274 
Djinns  (Jinn)  or  spirits,  the,  321,  323, 

352,  455.  479.  480;    legend,  321  ; 

sacrifice,  359  ;  evil  Djinn  and  good 

Djinn,  479,  480 
Djoixera    (Hadrumetum   or   Sousse), 

240 
Djoredjir,  Gregory,  236,  237 


INDEX 


489 


Djurdjura,  the  (Mountains  of  Great 

and  Little  Kabylia),  307 
Doctor,   the    North   African   native, 

452,  453 

Dog,  the,  in  solemn  feasts,  23  ;  the 
indispensable,  461  ;  the  faithful 
friend,  416 

Dolmens,  Dougga,  154,  159,  309; 
Constantine,  308  ;  Roknia,  312  ; 
discoveries  in,  313 

Domes,  265  ;  five  great,  267  ;  forest 
of  white,  268  ;  twelve  marabout, 
460 

Domestic  animals,  107,  268,  310,  311, 
318,  319,  328,  367,  T,TJ,  379,  402. 
408,  411,  412,  428,  442,  443,  452, 
456,  458,  461 

Domitian,  204 

Don  Diego  de  Haedo,  285 

Donatism,  161  ;  schism  of,  170,  174  ; 
the  Donatists  and  the  Circum- 
celliones,  177  ;  a  synod,  178  ; 
Donatus  dies  in  exile,  180  ;  Dona- 
tists form  alliances  against  the 
Church,  180  ;  edict  against  Dona- 
tists, 181  ;  withdrawn,  181  ;  coun- 
cil at  Carthage,  18 1 ;  verdict  against, 
183  ;   199,  201.  231,  234,  245,  482 

Doublet,  M.  Georges,  331 

Dougga  (Thugga),  12,  21  ;  home  of 
beautiful  temples,  24,  loi  ;  33,  92, 
102  ;  memorial  of  the  martyrs, 
146;  147;  theatre,  149;  153; 
ruins,  154;  dolmens,  154,  159, 
309  ;  "  Tucca,"  156  ;  Arab  village 
of  Dougga,  156  ;  the  Forum,  157; 
195  ;    Roman  city,  428,  430 

Doutte,  Prof.  Edmund,  469 

Drawing  water,  rules  in  Turkish 
Algiers,  298  ;  picturesque  scene, 
456 

Dream,  atmosphere  of  a,  378,  386  ; 
dreamlike  scenery,  448,  450 

Drepanum  (Trapani),  41  ;  blockaded, 

43 
Drifting  into  serfdom,  natives,  120 
Drums  and  pipes  (bendirs  and  zarna), 

433  ;   and  tambourine,  464 
Due  d'Orleans,  statue  of  the,  303 
Duilius,  C,  39,  40 
Dynasty  of  Rome  in  Africa,  220 

Ear  of  wheat,  magnificent,  107 
Eastern      and      Western      Empires, 

struggle  between,  180 
Eastern    Empire   of  Constantinople, 

union    with    Gothic    kingdom    of 

Italy,  217 
Ebro,  47,  48 
Echo,  a  wonderful,  401 


Ecnomus,  Mount  (Licata),  40 
Edrissites,  the,  246  ;    found  a  king- 
dom   at    Fez,    246  ;     accept    the 
suzerainty  of  Obeid  Allah,  247 
EgriUanus,  Cornelius,  226 
Egypt,    beliefs,    14;     gods,    20,    21  ; 
original  inhabitants,  Libyans,  26  ; 
commercial  relations,   313  ;    ideas 
of  the  soul,  419 

Eighteenth  dynasty,  Egyptian  tombs 
of  the,  a  comparison,  344 

El  Biar,  290 

El  Boncere,  416 

El  Djem  (Thysdrus),  106,  iii,  123, 
244,  441 

El  Djezair  (Algiers),  v.  Algiers 

Elementary  handicraft,  451,  455 

Elephant,  the  word,  Libyan,  105 

Elissar,  Princess  of  Sidon,  3,  185, 
204  ;  a  Dido,  3  ;  pyre  of,  3,  191  ; 
shrine  of,  4  ;  city  of,  5 ,  7  ;  re- 
mains, 13 — annihilation  of,  38; 
Elissar  and  Pygmalion,  titles  of 
Ashtart,  4 

El  Kalaa  (the  Citadel),  248 

El  Kantara  (the  Bridge),  near  Cirta, 
ruins  of,  337 

El  Kram,  63 

El  Man9our  (Abou  Temin  Maad),  248 

El  Moezz  ed-din  Allah,  conquers 
Egypt,  247  ;  estabUshes  his  capital 
at  El  Kahira,  247 

El  Moezz  ibn  Badis,  249,  250,  262 

El  Morabethin  (the  marabouts),  251 

El  R'oul  (the  ghouls),  308  ;  legend 
of,  308 

El  R'oulat  (the  ogres),  308 

Elworthy,  Mr.,  471,  475 

' '  Emperor,  our  Lord,  the,"  142,  143  ; 
the  holy  Emperors,  173  ;  incense 
to  Caesar,  175  ;  Emperor's  auto- 
graph letter  in  reply  to  peasants' 
appeal,  121  ;  Emperor  of  the  East, 
240  ;   of  Constantinople,  258 

Emporia,  province  of,  57 

Epitaph  and  inscription,  compari- 
son, 98  ;  epitaphs  numerous,  122; 
selected,  122;  brief,  196;  of  Sidi 
Okba,  242  ;    Geronimo,  285 

Ercte  (Monte  Pellegrino),  43 

Eros,  mosaic  of,  1 30 

Eryx,  seizure  of  the  town,  43 

Eschmoun,  a  Phoenician  god,  17  ; 
and  Punic  Carthage,  18 

Estates,  private,  117 

Ethbaal  (Ithbaal),  King  of  Sidon,  3 

Etruria,  civiUsing  influence  over  the 
Romans,  37 

Etruscans,  allies  of  the  Cartha- 
ginians, 1 1 


490 


INDEX 


Eudocia,  204.  209 

Eudoxia.  the  Empress,  203,  204 

European  rule  in  North  Africa,  end 
of,  243 

Europeans,  stolen  glimpses  of,  369 

"  Evasi,"  189 

Evil  eye,  the,  470  ;  scriptural  allu- 
sions, 471  ;  472,  475,  476 

Evodius,  182 

Excavations,  62,  93,  96,  113;  at 
Carthage,  131,  192,  193,  331  ;  Tim- 
gad,  183  ;  near  Menerville,  345 

Execution  of  a  young  Christian,  288 

Exmouth,  Lord,  the  battle  of  Algiers, 
289 

Fable  as  fact,  438 

Face  of  Baal,  a  metaphor  of  Tanith, 

31 
Faidherbe,  General,  314,  316,  317 
Faithful  friend,  the,  416 
Fan-shaped  peninsula,  7,  8,  185 
Fatemites,  dynasty  of  the,  247 
Fathers,  the  White,  187 
Fatimah,   236,   237 ;    the  Fatemites, 

247 
Feast-day  of  the  marabout,  367 
Fed    and    amused,    108,    109  ;     free 

food  and  races,  1 30 
Felicissimus,  170,  176 
Felicitas  and  Perpetua,  patron  saints 

of  Carthage,  144 
Feraud,  M.,  308 
Fertilising  of  the  palm,  370 
Fertility  returning,  156,  325,  327 
Festivals,  131,  141 
Feuds  at  Rome,   fought  on  African 

soil,  79 
Fez,  the  Zenetes  and  the  Kharedjite 

heresy,  248  ;  the  Almoravides,  251; 

the    Beni   Nerin   Zenata   and    the 

Merinides,   255  ;    Cherifs  of,   276  ; 

Merinide  kingdom  broken,  255 
Fig-trees,  gardens  of,  456 
Figure  of  the  goddess  Tanith,  29 
Filiash,  village  of,  463,  467 
Firmus,  Romanus,  Roman  Governor, 

180  ;   revolt,  180 
First  monastery  in  Africa,  at  Hippo, 

230 
First   mosque  built  in  North  Africa, 

374 
First  Punic  War,  beginning  of,   38  ; 

end  of,  44 
Fish  talisman  and  symbol,  the,  477  ; 

in   Kairouan   and   Medinine,   477  ; 

ancient   associations,  477  ;     Chris- 
tian symbol,  478 
Flame-like  ornaments,  264 
Flaubert,  34,  37,  105 


Flavianus,  Galerius,  Proconsul,  172 
Flood   of  Arab  invasion,   220  ;    few 

traces,  248  ;  new  flood  as  settlers, 

249 
Flowers  of  gorgeous  colouring,  427 
Flying    bridge,    the    Corvus,    of   the 

Roman  quinqueremes,  39,  40 
Folk  drama,  470 
Fontaine  Chaude,  Baths  of  the  Saints, 

324.  348 
Footprints,  chiselled,  25 
"  For  the  birds,"  419 
Forest  of  palms,  404 

Fort  des  Vingt-quatre  Heures,  284, 

293 

Fortifications  of  Carthage,  61,  62,  63, 
64 

Fortified  villages,  441,  447 

Fortresses,  5,  9,  12,  71,  86,  87,  95, 
loi,  126,  140,  202,  216,  221,  223, 
225,  231,  257,  299,  300,  326,  334, 
33^'  361,  392,  441,  450 

Forts,  284,  292,  293,  294 

"  Foum  es  Sahara,"  the  mouth  of  the 
desert,  86 

Fountain,  the,  as  a  thing  of  life,  405, 
406 

Fragments  of  Roman  ruins,  336 

French  Biskra,  392 

French  concession,  the,  at  Enfida- 
ville,  109 

French  road,  309 

French  village  schools,  382 

French,  the,  86,  87,  88,  95,  109,  139, 
156,  224,  231,  257,  266;  predic- 
tion, 267  ;  bones  of  Geronimo, 
285;  289,  293,  295,  299,  300,  313, 

325.  334,  336,  337-  344-  345-  355. 
361-  374,  382,  400,  429,  438,  442, 

445-  447-  449,  45 1 
Froissart,  247 

Fruit  trees,  Meskoutine,  330 
Funeral  feasts,  146,  147 
Funeral  processions  in  North  Africa, 

416 
Funnel  tombs,  122,  133,  188 
Fusion  of  manners,  343 

Gabes,  456 

Gades  (Cadiz),  52 

Galley  slaves,  281 

Gallus,  L.  Mutatius,  93,  95 

Games  of  chance,  380 

Gandoura,  311,  327,  379,  393 

Garrison  chapel  of  a  Roman  camp,  90 

Garrisoning  of  North  Africa,  84 

Gate  of  the  desert,  the  great  western, 

86 
Gate   of   the    Ford,    the    (Medjez-el- 

Bab),  124,  153 


INDEX 


491 


Gauls  and  the  Romans,  46  ;  Ligurian 

Gauls,  49 
Gela*L  Matmata,  the,  441 
Gelimer,   209,   211  ;    and   Belisarius, 

battles,  211,  212,  213 
Genii,  cult  of,  102 
Genoa,  54 
Genseric,     200-202  ;      his    capacity, 

203,  204  ;  his  policy  and  rule,  206  ; 

dies,  207 
Geography  of  North  Africa,  104 
Germanus,  218 

Geronimo,  martyrdom  of,  283 
Gerusia  of  Carthage,  60,  61 
Ghusl,  ablutions,  464 
Gibbon,  198,  202,  206,  210,  219,  220 
Gigantic  engines  of  attack,  65 
Gigantic  iron  swords,  455 
Gigantic    jetty,    built    by    Scipio    in 

siege  of  Carthage,  traces  of  which 

are  still  visible,  69 
Girl-guide,  a  little,  309 
Gladiators,  139 

Glory  of  the  sunshine,  the,  264 
Goat-keeper,  and  the  Dolmens,  the, 

3".  319 

God  of  vital  force,  17 

Godigisclus,  200 

Gods  of  Carthage,  primitive  and 
later,  18 

Gog  and  Magog,  422,  423 

Gold  and  silver  statues  of  the  gods, 
204 

Gontharis,  200,  219 

Gordians,  rebellion  of  the,  85 

Gordianus,  Marcus  Antonius,  87 

Gorge,  "  Calceus  HercuUs,"  87  ; 
Oued  Abdi,  95  ;  Oued-el-Abiod, 
95  ;  Medjerba,  224,  428  ;  El  Kan- 
tara,  242,  406  ;  Rummel,  336 

Gorse,  a  wilderness  of,  310 

Goths,  the,  197,  199,  208,  217 

Government  under  the  Romans,  in 
the  hands  of  native  princes,  76  ; 
a  parallel,  76  ;  79,  81 

Governor's  winter  palace,  Algiers,  299 

Gracchus,  Caius,  74 

Gradations  of  reflected  colour,  324 

Gramophone  at  Teboursouk,  429 

Granaries,  108 

Granary  of  Rome,  Africa,  the,  109  ; 
annona,  107;  123  ;  falls  out  of  til- 
lage into  prairie  and  desert,  250 

Grand  old  oUve-tree,  a,  458 

Graveyards  of  North  Africa,  the,  418; 
simplicity  of,  418  ;  markings  of  the 
graves,  418 

Great  market,  street  at  Algiers,  293 

Great  monastery  at  Tebessa,  ruins 
of,  227 


Great  mosque  of  Algiers,  arcade  of, 
295 

Great  storm  of  1541,  276,  293  ;  said 
to  have  been  foretold,  293 

Great  well,  a,  464 

Greatest  mosque  of  Africa,  com- 
parisons, 260 

Gregory  the  Prefect  and  the  invading 
Arabs,  236,  237 

Groves  of  olives,  34,  244 

Growth  of  a  Roman  town,  91 

Gsell,  M.  Stephane,  346 

Guelma  (Calama),  332  ;  French  camp 
at,  the  old  Greek  walls,  221 

Guides,  360 

Gulf  of  Tunis,  3,  40,  i86  ;  of  Utica, 
6.  7 

Gulussa,  son  of  Masinissa,  71,  77 

Gunda,  grandson  of  Masinissa,  79 

Gypsum  in  the  sand,  380 

"  Hadeed — Hadreed,"  the  Arab  cry 

against  the  Djinn,  455 
Hafsah,  233 
Hafside  dynasty,  the,  255  ;    Hafside 

Sultan  of  Tunis,  273 
Haidra  (Ammoedara),  162,  222-224 
Hair,  sacrifice  of,  to  Tanith,  31  ;   for 

cords  or  thongs,  32,  61 
Haifa  (esparto  grass),  224,  231,  444, 

457 
Halloula,  the  fairy  of  the  lake,  342 
Hamilcar  Barcas,  37,  42,  43  ;    genius 

and  probity,  44  ;  vengeance  on  the 

mercenaries,  45,  46  ;  falls  in  battle, 

46 
Hamilco  Phameas,  65 
Hammad    founds    El    Kalaa   and   a 

kingdom  of  the  north,  248  ;   Ham- 

madites,  252  ;   end  of  dynasty,  254 
Hammam-es-Salahin  (the  Holy  Baths ) , 

87,  368 
Hammam  Lif,  hot  springs  of,  22,  185 
Hammam  Meskoutine,  310,  317,  320, 

329-  458 
Hammam  R'hira,  458 
Hammon  (Baal),   18,   19,  20,  21,  22, 
24,   30,   31  ;    Khammon,  origin  of 
name,  19  ;  later  identification  with 
the  sun,  28  ;    Baal  Amon,  giver  of 
life,  425  ;    the  African   god,   481  ; 
Hammon  and  Tanith,  436 
Hamon,  in  Egyptian  Triad,  20 
"  Hand  of  Fatimah,"  the,  466,  473 
Hand,  symbol  of  the,  as  a  protective 
talisman,  472  ;   connected  with  the 
virtue  of  the  number  five,  472,  478  ; 
significations  of  the  human  hand, 
473  ;      ancient    examples    of    the 
symbol,   474  ;     a   general  symbol, 


492 


INDEX 


475  ;  with  Mohammedans,  con- 
nected with  the  Prophet,  475  ;  a 
curious  sacred  reUc,  475  ;  "  Hand 
of  the  Prophet,"  475 

Handmaidens  of  war,  the  three  ter- 
rible, 71 

Hanefite  rite,  the,  303 

Hannibal,  42  ;  oath  against  Rome, 
46  ;  genius  and  personality,  47  ; 
plan  of  campaign,  48  ;  "  forces  " 
the  Alps,  and  meets  Scipio  and 
Sempronius,  49  ;  turns  upon 
Quintus  Fabius  at  Cannae,  50  ; 
loses  an  eye,  49,  54  ;  returns  to 
Carthage,  54  ;  the  forlorn  hope  of 
Zama,  55  ;  regeneration  of  Car- 
thage under  his  administration, 
56  ;  forced  into  flight,  56  ;  dies 
in  exile,  60  ;   place  of  refuge,  183 

Hannibal,  family  name  of,  409 

Hanoteau,  M.,  330 

Happiness  and  pleasure,  128 

Harbour  of  Algiers,  275  ;  French,  295 

Harbours  of  Carthage,  the  great,  9, 

63 

Harouar,  country  of  the,  240 

Hasdrubal  defeated  by  L.  Coecilius, 
42  ;   suffers  death,  42 

Hasdrubal  Barcas,  brother  of  Hanni- 
bal, 48  ;  killed  in  battle  and  his 
head  flung  into  the  camp  of  Han- 
nibal, 51 

Hasdrubal  Giscon,  52,  53,  58  ;  in 
siege  of  Carthage,  65  ;  deals  with 
insubordination,  68  ;  after  despe- 
rate resistance  surrenders,  72 

Hasdrubal,  grandson  of  Masinissa,  65 

Hasdrubal,  son-in-law  of  Hamilcar 
Barcas,  46  ;   murdered,  47 

Hassan  Agha,  276 

Hassan,  Governor  of  Egypt,  takes 
Carthage,  242  ;  evacuates  the  city, 
243  ;  rebuilds  Kairouan,  242  ;  levels 
Carthage  to  the  ground,  243  ;  fights 
with  the  "  Kahenah,"  243,  244 

Hassan  ibn  Noman,  258 

Hassan  Pacha,  294 

Hatchet,  symbol  of  divinity,  32  ; 
defile  of  the,  45,  186 

HeaUng,  god  of,  17  ;  healing  waters, 
324.  368 

Hejira,  the,  266,  373 

Henchir-bou-Beker,  71 

Hercules  Melkarth,  traces  of  legend, 
4  ;   legend  of  Hercules,  87 

HercuUs,  Calceus  (El  Kantara),  pass 
of,  85  ;  mouth  of  the  desert,  86, 
87  ;   its  beauties,  87  ;  242 

Herodotus,  431,  438 

Heruli,  Arians,  217 


Hiempsal    and     Adherbal,    sons     of 

Masinissa,  76,  jj 
Hiempsal  H.,  son  of  Gunda,  79 
High  places,  19,  21,  359 
Hilarianus,  144 
Hildburgh.  W.  L.,  455 
Hilderic,  209,  212 
Hill  of  Juno,  72 
Hill-tops  and  religious  rites,  19 
Himilco  and  "  Punica  Fides,"  n 
Holocaust  to  the  god  Hammon,  22 
Holy  and  most  blessed  martyrs,  the, 

146,  155 
Holy  books,  inquisition  for,  176,  177 
Holy  well,  458  ;   and  sacred  tree,  458 
Homer,  66,  129 
Honorius,    issues   edict    against    the 

Donatists,  181  ;    edict  withdrawn, 

181  ;  184,  198 
Horace,  83,  104 
Horatius  Codes,  one  of  the  famous 

three,  454 
Horse-play  at  Theatre,  149 
Horse-shoe  arch,  the,  259,  260,  264, 

299,  300 
Horse's  head,  legend  of  the,  7 
Horses,  names  of,  in  mosaics,   114; 

enwreathed  by  vines,  in  mosaic,  159 
Hot  springs,  17,  22,  87,  92,  316,  317  ; 

near  Biskra,  324 
Hotel  de  la  Regence,  Algiers,  295 
House  of  Ahab  (Dar-el-Acheb),  158 
"  Human  boy,"  the,  370,  383 
Human  sacrifices,  5,  24 
Hunger,  400 
Hunneric,  204,  206 
Huns  and  Sarmatians,  197 
Husbandry  of  the  French,  the  skil- 
ful, 88 
Husein,  the  Dey,  289 

Iabdas,    King,    and    the    Numidian 

revolt,  216 
lakouch  (Bakouch)  as  Allah,  235 
larbas.  King,  son  of  Ammon,  3 
Ibadites,  the,  at  Tiaret,  245 
Ibn  Khaldoun,  243 
Ibn   Toumert,   of    the   tribe   of   the 

Masmouda,   252  ;    warrior  apostle 

of  the  Sof rites,  252  ;  story  of,  253  ; 

dies,  253 
Ibrahim-el-Aghlab,  261 
Icosium,  old  Christian  church  of,  at 

Algiers,  295 
Ifrikya,  236,  242;  Tunisia,  245;  246, 

248,  254 
Imperial  domains  (saltus),  118 
Incense,  359 

Information  imparted  by  epitaphs,  1 22 
Inscriptions  and  legends,    12,  24,  25, 


INDEX 


493 


26,  28,  33,  80,  86,  92,  97,  98,  99, 
loi,   102,   106,   107,   109,   118,  120, 

121,    132,    125,    126,    127,    146,    147. 

150.  155.  157.  189,  196,  226,  229, 
242,  267,  29s,  301,  329,  344,  381 

Insensibility  to  pain,  436 

Inshallah,  423 

Insurrection  and  mutiny  in  Spain,  52 

Intermarriage  between  Carthaginians 
and  natives,  343 

Invitation  to  the  marabout's,  407 

lol,  an  old  Carthaginian  town,  81 

Ionic  columns,  64,  339 

Ionic  elements  in  Punic  architecture, 

345 
Irish  regiment  and  the  Corsairs,  286 
Iron    and    brass.     King    Suleiman's 

ring,  479 
Iron  hand  and  velvet  glove,  76 
Iron  regarded  with  awe,  423,  454  ; 

the  blacksmith  as  a  magician,  453  ; 

early  use  of,  in  Egypt,  454,  455 
Islam,  divisions  of,  236 
Islamism,   confession   of  faith,   235  ; 

influence  of,  270  ;    as  a  primitive 

belief  of  the  Matmatas,  445 
ItaUan  merchants  and  bankers,  76 
Ivory  blossoms,  370 

Jerusalem,  temple  at,  type,  26 
Jewellery  and  vases  of  the  Dolmens, 

314 

Jewish  population,  testimony  of 
tombs,  187 

Jezebel,  3 

Joan  of  Arc,  the  Berber,  441 

John,  "  the  brother  of  Pappas,"  ap- 
pointed Governor,  219  ;  tranquil- 
lises  Africa,  219 

John  the  Patrician,  243 

Jovi  Optimo  Maximo,  24 

Juba  I.,  79,  80 

Juba  II.,  education,  80  ;  kingdom, 
personality,  and  rule,  81  ;  death, 
81  ;  tomb  of,  and  of  his  wife, 
Cleopatra  Selene,  338  ; — massive 
ruins  of,  339 

Jugurtha,  76  ;  his  personality,  76  ; 
jy,  78  ;  his  defeat  by  Metellus, 
78  ;  by  Marius,  78  ;  betrayal  and 
death,  78 

Juha  Gabinia  Venusta,  33 

Julian  the  apostate,  180 

Julianus,  Pubhlius  Ceironius  Caecina, 
100 

Julius  Venustus  Gabinius,  2i'?i 

Juno,  Ashtart,  Tanith,  7  ;  Juno  Pro- 
nuba  and  Elissar,  7  ;  Juno  Re- 
gina,  statue  of,  191 

Junonia,  75 


Justin,  5,  208 

Justinian,  132,  208,  210,  216,  219 

Justiniani  Vandalici,  213 

Kaaba,  233 

Kabyle  tribe  of  the  Ait  Iraten,  346 

Kabylia,  330 

Kahenah,  the,  Berber  heroine,  140, 
215,  243  ;  death  of,  244  ;  story  of, 
401 

Kairouan,  comparisons,  240;  founded, 
240-242,  256;  rebuilt  the  fourth 
time,  242  ;  the  Aghlebites,  246  ; 
taken  by  Abou  Abd  Allah,  247  ; 
sacked,  248  ;  249  ;  sacked  by  the 
Beni  Hillal,  250;  257  ;  Zlass,  257, 
268  ;  description,  257  ;  perished 
glories  of  the  city,  267,  368  ;  Sidi 
Okba,  374 

Kalaa,  El  (the  Citadel),  founded  by 
Hammad,  248  ;   ruins,  248 

Kamart,  61,  63,  64,  67;  heights  of, 
7,  8,  167,  187 ;  village  of,  75  ;  cape, 
187 

Karthadach  (Carthage),  "  the  New 
City,"  6,  191 

Kasba,  the,  Cirta,  334 

Kasbah,  the,  Algiers,  299 

Kasbah,  the,  Sousse,  131 

Kasserine,  12 

Katama  tribe,  246,  247 

Kbour  Roumia,  "  Tomb  of  the  Chris- 
tian," 340 

Key  of  Numidia,  338  ;  of  Algiers, 
294  ;   of  David,  448 

Khaled,  244 

Khalifahs,  line  of  the,  238  ;  the  Per- 
fect, 238,  245,  407  ;  the  title,  232  ; 
Khalifahs  of  Baghdad,  245  ;  Khalif 
Moaouia,  373 

Kharadj,  poll  tax,  245 

Kharedjites,  239  ;  missionaries,  245  ; 
found  independent  states,  245,  246  ; 
kingdoms  overthrown,  247  ;  the 
old  Kharedjite  heresy,  248 

Kheir-ed-Din  (Barbarossa),  273,  274  ; 
created  Pacha,  275  ;  captures  the 
Penon,  275  ;  made  Admiral-in- 
Chief,  276  ;  dethrones  Mulai  Has- 
san, 276  ;  driven  out  of  Tunis  by 
the  Spaniards,  276;  278,  294,  295 

Khotbah,  prayer,  for  the  Commander 
of  the  Faithful,  247 

Kibba,  the  (Mihrab),  258 

King  Suleiman  Ibn  Daoud,  legends 
of,  479;  the  great  magician,  321 

Kingdom  of  Syphax  given  to  Masi- 
nissa,  53 

Knights  of  St.  John,  276  ;  of  Malta. 
282  ;    Rhodes,  282 


494 


INDEX 


Koceila,  the  Berber  King,  241,  242, 

243 

Koran,  the,  233  ;  a  treasured  copy, 
304  ;  Koran  of  the  Borghouata 
(Koran  of  (^'alih'  ben  T'arif),  235, 
251  ;  see  Qu'ran 

Kouba  (shrine)  of  Sidi  Sahab,  263, 
265  ;  the  cemetery  (Kairouan), 
268  ;  Sidi  Dede  Weli,  293  ;  Sidi 
Abd-er-Rahman  et  Tsalibi,  302  ; 
' '  a  marabout,"  308  ;  over  a  saint's 
grave,  358 

Koudiat  Sousou,  186 

Koudiat  Tsalli  (Hill  of  Prayer),  143, 
190 

Koutzina,  native  chief,  helps  to  re- 
store order  to  Africa,  219 

Kroubs,  12 

Ksours,  of  [Medinine  and  Metameur, 
the,  444,  448 

Kufic  (Cufic)  characters,  242,  267,  381 

Labarum,  the,  32 

Laconicisms,  48,  59,  337,  338 

Lady  missionaries,  English,  231 

La  Goulette,  185 

"  La  ilaha  ill  Allah,"  235 

La  Malga,  cisterns  of,  106,  122,  133, 
187 

La  Marsa,  8,  145,  167,  172,  186 

Laelius,  71 

Lair  of  the  Corsairs,  295 

Lake  of  Tunis,  7,  63,  185 

Lambaesis  (Lambessa),  17,  86,  87,  91, 
92,  93,  95,  96,  102,  222,  224,  244 

Lamoriciere,  Colonel,  337 

Landowners,  the  great,  and  the  small 
farmers,  108,  118 

Lars  Porsena,  454 

Latifundia,  the,  109 

Laurence,  R.  M.,  M.D.,  455 

Lavigerie,  Cardinal,  185  ;  burial-place 
at  Byrsa,  191  ;  statue,  362  ;  Lavi- 
gerie Museum  at  Carthage,  474 

Law  of  Hadrian,  11 8-1 21 

Lease,  conditions  of,  or  occupation, 
118,  205 

Lebanon,  a  hill  in  Carthage,  30 

Legend  and  fable,  4,  87,  160,  258,  261, 
263,  265,  267,  303,  308,  321,  322, 
341,  342,  371,  374.  389.  406.  409, 
422-424,  479 

Legends,  Hercules,  87  ;  the  R'oul 
(ghouls),  308  ;  the  Djinn,  321  ; 
Ourida,  322  ;  Ben  Kassem,  341  ; 
the  "Tomb  of  a  Christian,"  341, 
342  ;    King  Suleiman,  479 

Legions,  Roman,  traces  of  their 
colonies,  85  ;  Sixth  Legion,  86  ; 
Legio  Ulpia  Victrix,  93  ;  III.  Legio 


Augusta,  strengthened  by  native 
troops,  85  ;  86,  87,  93,  97,  109, 
155,  168;  disbanded,  168;  recon- 
stituted, 168;   173,  224,  330 

Lemercier,  Colonel,  296 

Leo,  Bishop,  203 

Leptis,  12,  54,  211,  214 

Leucathians,  219 

Lihitina,  the  gate  of,  136 

Libya,  and  Libyan  conditions,  wor- 
ship, 5,  20,  25,  26,  30,  92,  425, 
431  ;  Libyans,  Berbers,  26  ;  Libyan 
stronghold,  12,  86;  Libyan-Punic 
tomb,  309  ;  troglodyte  Libyans, 
or  Berbers,  312  ;  inscription,  330; 
ancient  symbol,  481 

Light  and  shade,  301 

Lighthouse  at  Carthage,  the,  8,  185 

Ligula  or  Toenia,  the  (La  Goulette),  8 
61,  63,  64,  67 

Lion,  figure  of  on  tomb,  345 

Lions,  Arab  gate  of  the,  295 

Lipara,  39 

Literature,  Carthaginian,  no  traces 
left,  except  on  agriculture,  11 

Livius,  Consul,  51 

Locusts,  361 

Lords  of  Carthage,  the  great,  16 

Loss  of  sight  in  the  villages  of  the 
Ziban,  380 

Lot's  wife,  322 

Lotus-eaters,  the  island  of  the,  274 

Louvre,  loi 

Lucius  Octavius  Victor  Roscianus,  25 

LucuUus,  Lurius,  121 

Lusitania,  198 

Lustred  tiles,  262,  264,  265,  301,  302 

Macarius,  Proconsul,  180 
Macrobius,  cemetery  of,  burial-place 

of  Cyprian,  186 
Madauros  (Mdaourouch),  224 
Madghasen,  the,  332,  338,  346,  347 
Maghreb    ("The   West"),    234,   245, 

250  ;    Maghreb-el-Acsa,   245,   253  ; 

Maghreb-el-Aou9ot,  245  ;  Maghreb, 

Central,    254  ;     Prayer    of    "  The 

Maghreb,"  388 
Maghzen,  the,  277 
Magical  properties  of  iron,  454 
Magon,    brother    of    Hannibal,    54 ; 

dies  on  homeward  voyage,  54 
Magon,  on  agriculture,  13,  107 
Maharbal,  50 
Majorinus  and  the  first  open  schism 

in  the  Christian  Church  of  Africa, 

177 
Maksoura,  262 
Malekite  rite,  the,  300 
Manastabal,  76 


INDEX 


495 


Mancinus,  Lucius,  65,  67 

Manes,  offering  to  the,  420,  421 

"  Manichean  error,"  the,  181,  182 

Manilius,  Marcius,  Consul,  60,  65 

Mansourah,  heights  of,  336 

Maouia  ben  Hadaidj,  240 

Mapalia,  108,  443 

Marabout,  178  ;  Maraboutta,  243  ; 
Si  Amor  Abbada,  267,  455  ;  Sidi 
Dede  Weli,  293  ;  Sidi  Abd-er- 
Rahman,  301  ;  "  marabout,"  308  ; 
call  of  the  marabout,  349  ;  mystery 
surrounding  the  marabout,  350  ; 
the  Marabout  El  H'amel,  350,  459  ; 
origin  of  name,  35 1 ;  magical  powers 
ascribed  to,  351  ;  instruction  of  the 
Djinn,  352  ;  influence  for  peace, 
355  ;  mysterious  power  of  com- 
munication, 356  ;  eating  food  with 
a  marabout,  355  ;  funeral,  357  ; 
tombs,  362  ;  Marabout  of  Biskra, 
349.  393.  395.410;  of  Tolga,  348, 
407,410;  sacred  spot,  themarabout, 
459;  ring  of  a  marabout,  480  ;  mara- 
bout domes,  460 

Marauding  tribes,  tribute  to,  447 

Marble,  statue,  25  ;  steps,  97  ;  pillar 
of,  189  ;  room,  192  ;  pillars  of 
white,  195  ;  panelling,  229  ;  sarco- 
phagus, 229  ;  pillars,  243  ;  columns 
of  red  and  yellow,  258  ;  pillars, 
maze  of,  260  ;  perforated,  262  ; 
inlaid  floor,  264  ;  white  columns, 
265  ;  windows  of  white  and 
coloured,  265  ;  seventy-two  white 
columns,  295  ;  gate,  295  ;  foun- 
tain, 295,  296,  299  ;  likeness  of 
the  human  hand  in,  475 

Marcus  Aurelius,  92  ;  and  Lucius 
Verus,  loi  ;  142,  161 

Mare  Clausum,  45 

Marguerite  insurrection,  the,  326,  327 

Markets  and  market-places,  9,  12,  98, 
99,  100,  109,  223,  227,  361,  379, 
398,  464,  465 

Marochetti,  303 

Marriage  sign,  the,  481 

Marriage  song,  music  of  the,  401,  402 

Marsyas,  97 

Martianus,  Julius,  Legate  of  Numidia, 
109 

Martyrdom,  142,  143,  144;  Perpetua, 
144,436;  Felicitas,  144;  the  scene, 
145  ;  Cyprian,  173  ;  Geronimo,  283, 
284 

Mascula  (Khenchela),  86,  96,  105, 
109,  224 

Masinissa,  Numidian  chieftain,  King 
of  Cirta,  12,  52,  53,  57,  58,60,65,66, 
71.  76,  332.  333.  338 


Masks,  15,  16,  159 

Massiva,  son  of  Gulussa,  jy 

Matho  and  Spendius,  44,  45,  155 

Matmatas,  the,  408,  438  ;  as  troglo- 
dytes, 438,  439  ;  region  of  Mat- 
mata,  439  ;  fortified  village,  Gela.i 
Matmata,  and  persecuted  Berber 
tribes,  440  ;  pillaging  hordes,  440  ; 
the  Matmata  pure  Berbers,  440  ; 
Matmata  Mountains,  441  ;  the 
Matmatas  and  the  Kahena,  441  ; 
the  people,  442  ;  dwellings,  444  ; 
artistic  taste,  441;  ;  Islamism, 
445 

Mauretania,  keeps  her  kings,  76  ; 
Bocchus  and  Sylla,  y?'  ;  Bocchus 
and  Bogad,  79  ;  partition  and 
restoration  of  Numidia,  80,  81  ; 
Juba  IL,  81,  338  ;  peasantry  drop 
into  a  nomad  life,  178  ;  Genseric, 
202  ;   Stotzas,  218 

Mausoleums,  the  Madghasen,  332  ; 
Kbour  Roumia  ("  Tomb  of  the 
Christian  "),  338  ;  mausoleum  of 
Ataban,  159,  342  ;  its  restoration, 
345  ;  mausoleum  near  Menerville, 
fate  of,  345  ;  described  by  M. 
Stephane  Gsell,  346  ;  Roman  mau- 
soleum, 225 

Maxyes,  Berber  tribe,  and  the  Car- 
thaginians, 6 

Mfalla,  382,  430 

Mecca,  the  African,  257 

Mechares,  racing  camels,  461 

Mecipsa,  successor  of  Masinissa,  76 

Med jerda(Bagradas) River, 7;  changed 
course,  153,  427,  428 

Megara,  suburb  of  Carthage,  64,  67, 
187  ;  inhabitants  fire  the  remains 
of  Carthage,  jt,  ;  site  of  new  city, 
75  ;   villas  of,  187 

Mehdia,  a  new  capital,  247  ;  be- 
sieged, 248 ;  evacuated,  251  ;  be- 
sieged and  taken,  254 

Mellegue,  source  of  the,  225 

Membressa  (Medjez-el-Bab),  124,  153, 
218 

Memorable  saying  of  TertuUian,  163  ; 
paradoxes  of,  163 

Memoria  ntartyrum.  146 

Memorial  stone,  a  Roman,  329 

Men  of  the  Sahara,  the,  380,  393 

Mensurinus,  177 

Mercenaries,  war  of  the,  44,  45 

Merinide  dynasty,  the,  255 

Mers-el-Kebir,  the  port  of,  captured 
by  Spaniards,  272 

Meskoutine,    traces    of    Romans    at, 

322.  323 
Messina,  38 


496 


INDEX 


Metal  worker,  the,  in  primitive  times, 

Metameur    and    Medinine,    fortified 

villages,    447  ;      Metameur.    444  ; 

fortress   of,   450 ;     Medinine,   444, 

452,  456,  460 
Metaurus,  the  battle  on,  52 
Metellus,  L.  CoeciUus,  42 
Metellus,  Marius,  and  Sylla,  78 
Metidja,  the,  301 
Michael  Angelo,  158 
Mighty  cemetery,  a,  311,  312 
Mighty  fortress,  a,  338 
Mihrab,  261,  262,  296,  381,  392,  414 
Mila,  221 
Milan,  54,  229 
Mimbar,  413 
Mimosa,  362,  392 

Minaret,  383  ;   view  from  a,  384-386 
Minerva  Augusta,  102 
Minute  writing,  134 
Miracles,     366;      of    healing,     381; 

alleged,  206 
Mirage,  402 
Mitoussa,   battle   near,   between   the 

"  Kahenah  "  and  Hassan,  244 
Mob,  the,  and  early  Christians,  141, 

145,  166 
Mohadjer,  El,  241,  242 
Mohammed,  232,  237,  252,  254 
Mohammed  II.,  273 
Mohammedan  authorities,  231 
Mohammedan     Libyans,     the     Mar- 
guerite insurrection,  327 
Moh'arrem,    the    (beginning    of    the 

Mohammedan  year),  467 
Mole  at  Algiers,  275,  294  ;    a  second 

mole,  295 
Moloch,  the  African,  22  ;  the  title,  22 
Mommsen,  63,  361 
Monastery,    the    first    in    Africa    at 

Hippo,  230 
Monasticism,  the  first  communities, 

182  ;     monasteries,    founding   and 

spread  of,  182,  183 
Monreale,  Church  of,  41,  191 
Montanism,  144.  164,  234 
Monumental  gateway,  loi,  158 
Morocco,    81,    24!;,    351  ;    Cherifs   of 

Fez,  276 
Mosaic,  a  wonderful,  158 
Mosaics,   90,   92,   94,   98,    105,    no; 

series  of,  111-117;    130,    131.   I39. 

140,   151,  158,  159,  183,  194,   199, 

229 
Moslem  cemeteries,   Kairouan,   268  ; 

respect  for  the  dead,  417;    signs 

and  symbols,  418  ;    the  marabout, 

421 
Moslem  fable  of  Sidi  Abdullah,  S7  ; 


legend  of  Sidi  Okba,  258  ;  story 
of  Ibrahim-el-Aghlab,  261  ;  legend 
of  Mohammed,  263  ;  of  Djama 
Djedid,  302  ;  of  the  gazelle,  371  ; 
of  the  palm  shoots,  374  ;  traditiori 
of  the  prayers,  389  ;  legend  of  Sidi 
Ali  and  Sidi  Abdullah,  409 

Moslem,  every,  a  free  man,  235, 
283 

Mosque,  as  miUtary  hospital,  81  ; 
mosque  and  tomb  of  Sidi  Okba, 
242  ;  mosque  of  Sidi  Okba, 
Kairouan,  258  ;  second  mosque, 
258  ;  present,  259  ;  mosque  of 
Sidi  Sahab,  263-266,  302  ;  Djama 
Zitouna  (mosque  of  the  olive  tree), 

266  ;    Djama    Sidi    bou    Djafour, 

267  ;  mosque  of  Si  Amor  Abbada, 
267  ;  mosques  as  sanctuaries  for 
criminals,  293  ;  removal  of  Mosque 
es  Saida,  Algiers,  295  ;  mihrab  of, 
taken  to  the  Djama  Djedid,  296  ; 
Djama  Kebira  (great  mosque), 
Algiers,  300  ;  little  mosque  and 
zaouia  of  Sidi  Abd-er-Rahman, 
301  ;  Djama  Djedid,  302  ;  mosque 
and  zaouia,  Tolga,  407  ;  M9alla 
of  mosque,  Teboursouk,  430 ; 
mosque  of  the  Matmatas  (erected 
by  the  French),  445  ;  Mosque  of 
the  Sabres,  267  ;  mosques  of  Tunis, 
260 

"  Mother  and  Child,"  29 

Mouadjel  ech  Cheiatin  ("The  Devil's 
Cisterns"),  194 

Mofduud,  the  (the  Prophet's  birth- 
day), 428 

Mourad,  the  Reis,  286 

Mourners,  two  little,  414,  415 

Mousa  ibn  Noceir,  244 

Muezzin,  call  of  the,  260,  268,  387,  412 

Muharram,  the  first  month,  392 

Municipal  offices  and  civic  duties, 
127,  128 

Museums,  Algiers,  330;  British,  12, 
344;  Carthage,  146,  192,  478;  St. 
Germain,  314;  Tebessa,  24,  227; 
Timgal,  94  ;  Vatican,  1 5 

Music,  pipes,  156;  an  austere  doc- 
trine, 251,  252;  material  for  in- 
struments devoted  to  other  pur- 
pose, 262  ;  music  and  song,  392, 
397;  marriage  song,  401,  402; 
pipes,  404  ;  pipes  and  tom-toms, 
430  ;  tom-toms,  432,  434  ;  drum, 
pipe,  and  tambourine,  464 

Musical  ceremony,  a,  465-467  ;  cry 
of  the  Zagharit,  467 

Mustapha  ibn  Ismael,  266 

Mutiny   and   insubordination,   Spen- 


INDEX 


497 


dius  and  Matho,  37,  44  ;  Carthage, 
68  ;   Vandal  horsemen,  2 1 7 

Myloe,  battle  off,  40 

Mysterious  silence,  412 

Mystery  and  terror,  317 

Myths  of  the  Semites,  4 

Napoleon,  49 

Napoleon  III.,  87 

Nasal  ring  ("  Nezem  "),  15 

Native  prejudices  consulted,  26  ; 
native  tribes,  rising  of,  40  ;  sub- 
jugation of,  41  ;  native  dress,  327, 
328  ;  native  industry,  encouraged 
by  the  French,  449 

NecropoUs  of  the  Rabs,  23  ;  Punic, 
192 

Neith,  a  Libyan  deity,  26  ;  Neith, 
Athene,  27 

Nepheris,  65,  69,  71,  186 

Nepos,  Cornelius,  109 

Nero,  Consul,  51 

Nero,  the  Emperor,  and  the  Lati- 
fundia,  109,  118  ;  a  charioteer,  132 

New  Africa,  80 

Nigeria,  313 

Nomad  marauders,  86 

Normans,  251,  254 

North  Africa,  a  French  colony,  289 

Noweiri,  En,  256 

Nucleus  of  a  Christian  community, 
the  first,  160 

Numidia,  built  up  by  Masinissa,  76  ; 
Numidian  sheiks  aid  the  Car- 
thaginians in  the  war  following 
mutiny,  44  ;  Numidian  cavalry, 
58  ;  division  of,  77-80 ;  restora- 
tion as  Numidia  Provincia,  81  ;  86, 
100;  the  Donatists,  177;  distant 
villages  unsubdued,  178  ;  Cirta 
defies  Genseric,  202  ;  Numidians 
and  Byzacene  in  revolt,  215;  a 
soothsayer,  216;  Germanus  and 
Stotzas,  218  ;  sepulchre  of  the 
Numidian  chiefs,  332  ;  Numidians 
and  Phoenicians,  343 

Nympheum,  185 

Oaks  and  elms,  224 

Oases  of  the  Ziban,  87  ;  oasis  of  Sidi 
Okba  (Thcibudei),  378,  393,  399 

Obeid  Allah,  and  his  lieutenant,  Abou 
Abd  Allah,  246  ;  seizes  upon  Kai- 
rouan  ;  builds  a  new  capital  at 
Mehdia,  247  ;  dies  leaving  a  large 
empire,  247 

Octavia,  80 

Octavius,  81 

Odds  and  ends,  European,  444 

Ohnefalsch-Richter,  M.,  481 


Oil,  wine,  and  corn,  320  ;  oil  press  at 

Meskoutine,  328  ;  oil  of  Hammam 

Meskoutine,  329 
Old  Biskra,  364,  391,  392 
Old  Greek  walls,  221 
Old  names,  reappearance  of,  60 
Olives,  139,   159,  244,  320,  324,  327, 

342,    369  ;     oHve    grove,    34,    244  ; 

olive    harvest,    picturesque    scene, 

327 
Omar  ibn  al  Khattab,  233  ;    his  de- 
claration of  policy,  233  ;  murdered, 

233 
Omeiades,     dynasty    of    the,     238  ; 

kingdoms  of,  244,  245  ;   orthodoxy 

of  the,  249 
Oran,  283 

Orange  and  lemon  trees,  329 
Orientation  of  Dolmens,  313,  315 
Original      inhabitants      of      Egypt, 

lubyans,  26 
Orthodoxy  and  Byzantine  invaders, 

234  ;    of  the   rulers  at    Kairouan, 

245 
Ostia,  108 

Othman  ibn  Afian,  Khalifah,  236 
Ouabite  dynasty,  the,  255 
Ouarsenis  Mountains,  the,  307 
Oued,    Atmenia,    113;    Biskra,    363, 

366  ;     a    fatal    torrent,    367  ;     El 

Kebir,  200  ;  Haidra,  223  ;  Khalled, 

154;  valley,  155;  Ksour(Kantara), 

87 ;    Lebda,  21 i 
Ouezzan,  the,  240 
Ouled  Nails,  practices  of  the,  32 
Ouled  Reah,  326 
Oumache,  sand  dunes  of,  399 
Ourida,  the  legend  of,  322 
Outich  (Utica),  6 

Pachvnus  (Cape  Passaro),  storm  off, 

destroys  Roman  fleet,  41 
Palatinates  established  by  Belisarius, 

213 
Palm-leaf  ornament,  265 
Palm-leaf    symbol,     196,     480  ;      its 
universality  in  North  Africa,  480  ; 
the  palm-flower,  480  ;    Punic  sym- 
bol, 481  ;    dating   from  an   earlier 
civilisation,  481  ;    the   Libyan  to- 
tem, 481  ;   conventional  hand  and 
the  palm-leaf,  481 
Palm-trees,  forests  of,  404;  40S.  4"  ; 
oases  of,  87,  320,  378,  393,  402,  456  ; 
palm  gardens,  369,  370,  373 
Panormos  (Palermo),  position  of,  41 
Paper,  the  manufacture  of,  457 
Paradoxes  of  TertuUian,  163 
Parallels   suggested    with    Hannibal, 
50 

21 


498 


INDEX 


Paternus,  Proconsul,  171 
Patriotism,  37,  79,  91  ;  Civis  liomamis 

sum,  126 
Paullus,  ^Emilius,  Consul,  50 
Peasantry,    wild,    of    Numidia    and 

Mauretania,  178 
Peasants,   the  free  coloni,    109,   119; 

appeal  of,   1 20  ;    under  the  Vandal 

sway.  205 
Pedro  Navarro,  272 
Penitentiary  built  by  Napoleon  III., 

87 
Penon  (Rock),  the,  255,  273-275,  294, 

29s 
Penteres    or     quinqueremes    of    the 

Carthaginians,  38 
Perfect  women  of  the  Prophet,  473 
Perfidia  plusqtiam  Punicd,  60 
Perpetua,  144,  189 
Persecution,    162  ;    and   desecration, 

166  ;   a  storm  of  persecution,  169  ; 

edict    of    Valerian,    171  ;     another 

edict,  172;  Diocletian,   176;  Hun- 

neric,  206 
Personified    virtues,    the    dedication 

of  temples  to,  102 
Pestilence,    a    terrible,     170;     great 

pestilence  of  196  b.c,  192 
Peto,  Sir  Morton,  294 
Petrie,  27 

Petronius  Maximus,  203 
Pharaoh  Khuenaten,  474 
Pharsalia,  79 
Philanthropy,  128 

Philosophy,  school  of,  in  mosaics,  1 1 5 
Phoenicians  become  Libyanised,  5 
Phoenike,  Land  of  Purple  or  Red,  6 
Phosphates,  224,  231 
Picture  with  mythical  figures,  409 
Picturesque  scene,  at  the  well,  456 
Pigmies,  the,  422-424 
Pilgrimage,  place  of,  263  ;    pilgrims, 

381  ;   from  Mecca,  407 
Pillaging  hordes,  440,  447 
Pillars,  81,  91,  152,  157,  189,  193,  195, 

243  ;     handsome    bases    of,    259  ; 

vistas     of     pillared     aisles,     261  ; 

Roman,  291,  295,  300;    rude  clay 

pillars,   382;   430,    435;    of   palm- 
trees,  463  ;  463 
Pillars  of  Hercules,  82 
Pipes,  music  of  the,  328,  392,  397,  430 
Pisa,  the  Cathedral,  243 
Piso,  Lucius,  65,  67 
Pius,  Antoninus,  86,  loi 
Place  du  Gouvernement,  303 
Placidia,  Galla,  198,  201 
Plato,  27 

Playfair,  Sir  Lambert,  286,  289,  290 
Plays  with  a  common  incident,  469 


Pliny,  359,  446 

Pliny,  the  elder,  109,  118 

Plough,  a  primitive,  310  ;   ploughing 

with  oxen,  310,  428 
Pceni  and  Turks,  277 
Polybius,  39,  63 
Pompeianus,     108  ;      excavation     of 

house  of,  113 
Pompeii  and  Timgad,  93,  96 
Pompey,  338 
Pons  Sublicius,  the   (sacred  wooden 

bridge),    454;    ultimate    value    of, 

455 
Poole,  Stanley  Lane,  280 
Portugal,  Tangiers  and  Cintra,  255 
Portuguese    driven    from    coasts    of 

Morocco,  276 
Prayer,  266,  387,  388,  392,  393,  394, 

413.  415 

Predictions,  a  soothsayer,  215,  216; 
the  freedom  of  Barbary,  244  ;  the 
coming  of  the  French,  267  ;  great 
tempest,  293 

Prehistoric  tombs,  308 

Pretorium,  223 

Primitive  beliefs,  470 

Primitive  burial-place,  the  scene,  318 

Privileges  for  married  soldiers,  91 

Prize  crews  of  the  Corsairs,  282  ; 
prize  money,  285 

Probus,  the  Emperor,  197 

Proclus,  Quajstor,  208 

Procopius,  210,  217,  219  ;  testimony 
to  the  flourishing  condition  of 
Africa  in  march  with  Belisarius, 
220  ;  the  change  in  twenty  years, 
220 

Profusion  of  ruins  and  monuments, 
123,  126 

Prophet,  the,  232,  233,  236  ;  com- 
panion, 240,  257,  263,  266;  348, 
360,  365,  371  ;  "  the  faith  of  the," 
374  ;  378.  385.  389  ;  the  dead,  414, 
415;  colours  of,  418;  imputed 
lore,  424  ;    his  birthday,  428 

Proselytising,  144,  166 

Proverb  of  the  palm.  Eastern,  362 

Prunar  Bey,  Dr.,  313 

Ptolemy,  son  of  Juba  II.,  81  ;  murder 
of,  82 

Pubhc  games,  128  ;  the  Emperor 
Aurelian  upon,  129 

Public  library,  Algiers,  299 

Public  or  common  land  {publicus 
ager),   118 

Pudicitia,  i  5 

Punic  mausoleum  (of  Ataban)  on  the 
borders  of  Thugga,  its  restoration, 

343 
Punic  necropolis  and  plague  pit,  192 


INDEX 


499 


Punic  wars  :    first,    37-44  ;    second, 

48-55  ;  third,  59-73 
Pun  tea  Fides,  ^y 
Pusey  quoted,  163 
Pygmalion,  3  ;    Pygmalion  and  Elis- 

sar,  titles  of  Ashtart,  4 
Pyrethrum  and  mignonette,  72,  186 
Pythian  games,  191 

Question,  a  young  Arab's,  386 
Qu'ran  (Koran),   352,   371,   380,   384, 
385,  395,  408,  422,  427,  467  ;    the 
Qu'ran    and    iron,    455  ;    learning 
the  Qu'ran,  382  ;  see  Koran 

Rab,  priest,  14 

Rabble  (of  Rome),  108,  142 

Racing  world  at  Rome,  the,  131  ;   in 

mosaics,  130 
Rades  (Maxula),  185 
Raias,  the,  277 
Railway,  light,  224 
Ransom,  237,  297 
Ras     Kofia,    head-dress     of    native 

women    of    North    Africa,    sacred 

carvings,  418 
Ravenna,  199,  201 
Read,  Sir  Thomas,  344 
Recording  angels,  the,  Mounkar  and 

Nakir,  415 
Regulus,  Marcus  Atilius,  Consul,  40, 

41,  42,  61 
Reign  of  terror,  the  charioteers,  133 
Relief  of  Abundance,  108,  192 
Religion   of   the   Carthaginians,    17  ; 

primitive    religion,     18  ;     religious 

excitement,  stories  of,    179;    184; 

rehgious  toleration,  216;  religious 

frenzy,  433 
Renaissance,  the,  270 
Rent,  6,  13,  119 
Representations     of     Hammon     and 

Tanith,  31 
Rescripts  against  the  Christians,  142 
Residence  de  France,  186 
Rhodogast,  197 
Rhone  Legion,  the,  168 
Rhorfa,  primitive  dwellings,  447,  449 
Rites  and  sacrifices,  5,21,  22,  23,  24, 

31,  32.  61,  179,  300,  303,  367,  368, 

426,  430-436,  467 
Rivalry,  native,  and  divided  councils, 

79 
Rock  of  the  Kasba  (Cirta),  335 
Rock  or  Pefion,  the,  273-275,  294,  295 
Rock  sculptures,  331 
Roknia,  Dolmens  of,  308,  312 
RoUin,  3 
Roman   government  in   Africa,   first 

seat    of,    74  ;     Roman    policy    in 


Africa,  reflex  of  Rome,  80  ;  spread 
of  empire  in  Africa,  parallel  sug- 
gested, 82  ;  Roman  characteris- 
tics, 83  ;  building  of  the  Roman 
empire,  83  ;  golden  age  of  the 
Roman  empire,  161  ;  age  of  iron, 
162  ;  downfall  of  the  empire  of 
Rome,  197  ;  fate  of  Roman  Africa, 
201  ;  Romans  and  Tunisia,  446  ; 
influence  over  the  Berbers,  446  ; 
Roman  citizen  in  his  African  home, 
117,  128;  Roman  occupation  of 
the  Ziban,  463  ;  sarcophagi,  464 ; 
Roman  ruins,  221 
Roman  temple  to  Hammon,  a,  24 
Romans,  the,  expansion  of  Rome,  37  ; 
build  large  warships  from  Cartha- 
ginian model,  39  ;  a  large  fleet 
despatched  for  Carthage,  40  ;  turn- 
ing point  of  war  in  favour  of  Rome, 
42  ;  lesson  to  Rome  of  the  sword 
and  the  trident,  45  ;  ambassadors 
complain   of  Carthaginian  tactics, 

48  ;  second  war,  48  ;  Roman  losses, 

49  ;  great  slaughter  of  Romans,  50  ; 
Rome's  "gage  of  battle,"  51  ;  a 
truce  and  two  decisive  battles,  53  ; 
the  regeneration  of  Carthage,  56  ; 
surrender  of  Hannibal  demanded, 
56  ;  hostages  and  fatal  conditions, 
59-61  ;   a  long  siege,  65 

Romans,  the,  encourage  native  in- 
dustries, 449 

Roquefeuil,  Lieut,  de,  193 

Rose  of  the  Winds,  Place  of  the,  157 

Rouama,  231 

Rouifa  ibn  Tsabit,  266 

R'oul  (ghouls),  legend  of  the,  308 

Ruins,  of  Caesarea  (Cherchel),  81  ;  Ain 
Tounga,  153;  Dougga,  154,  156; 
Madauros,  224  ;  Tebessa,  225  ;  El 
Kalaa,  248  ;  ruins  of  tombs,  308  ; 
of  the  fortified  village  of  the  Mat- 
matas,  441  ;  of  two  Roman  camps, 
87,  88  ;  Roman  thermae  and  villas, 
327  ;  waterworks,  106,  244  ;  ruins 
not  identified,  225  ;  ruin,  a  beauti- 
ful, loi  ;  two  cemeteries  of  Roman 
officials,  188 

Rule  of  the  French  in  North  Africa, 
325.  326 

Running  the  blockade,  65,  69 

Rusicade  ( Philippe ville),  63 

Ruskin's  Stones  of  Venice,  229 

St.  Jerome,  130 

St.  Louis  of  France,  191,  225 

St.  Paul,  160 

Sacking  of  Rome  by  the  Vandals,  204 

Sacred  animals,  20,  21  ;   sacred  stone 


500 


INDEX 


and  Semitic  worship,  20  ;  sacred 
groves,  21 ,  23,  34  ;  sacred  offerings, 
367  ;  sacred  tree,  458  ;  sacred  trees 
with  votive  rags,  458,  459  ;  holy 
well,  458  ;  sand  for  water,  459 

Sacrifice  for  rain,  367 

Sacrifices,  human,  later,  5,  22,  24 

Sacrifices  to  Tanith,  31 

Saguntuni,  48 

Sahara,  the,  320  ;  Sahara  roses,  379  ; 
Arabs  of,  dress  and  bearing,  380  ; 
oases,  270,  393  ;  charm  of,  398  ; 
villages  of,  413 

Salah  Rais,  342 

Salam-et-Teumi  (Arab  sheik),  invited 
by  Algerines,  273  ;  calls  to  his  aid 
Aroudj,  who  murders  him,  274 

Sale's  translations,  479 

Sallust,  80,  104,  443,  446 

Saltus  Bururitanus,  120 

Samora  (acacia)  tree,  359,  362 

Sanctuaries  for  criminals,  293,  294 

Sanctuary  of  Eschmoun,  17 

Sanhadja  of  the  Veil  (Likam),  tribes 
of  the,  251 

Sarcophagi,  14,  23,  29,  155,  199,  229, 
464 

Sardanapalus,  traces  of  legend,  4 

Sardinia  seized  by  the  Romans,  44,  45 ; 
BeUsarius,  214 

Saturn,  19,  23  ;  Saturnus  Balcarnen- 
sis,  24 

Saturninus,  VigelUus,  Proconsul,  143, 
162 

Sbeitla,  great  temple  at,  222 

Schiller,  232 

Schisms  of  Islam,  238 

Schoolmaster   and  religious  customs, 

a,  391 

Schools  of  Arabs  and  natives,  382 

Scipio,  C.  Cornelius,  39,  48,  49,  55 

Scipio  (Nasica),  57 

Scipio,  Publius,  49,  52  ;  military 
genius  and  character,  52,  53  ;  vio- 
lates truce  with  Syphax  through 
the  persuasion  of  Masinissa,  53,  60 

Scipio  Publius,  Cornelius,  sketch  of, 
66  ;  in  siege  of  Carthage  rescues 
Mancinus,  places  himself  in 
similar  position,  67  ;  makes  effec- 
tive blockade,  68  ;  wins  over  allies 
of  Carthage,  68,  69  ;  closes  the 
mouth  of  the  harbour,  69  ;  bivou- 
acks  in  the  Forum,  71  ;  reaches  the 
citadel,   72  ;   returns  to  Rome,  j},  ; 

n>  78.  193 

Scipio,  Q.  Mettellus,  79 

Scorpianus,   the   charioteer,   ruins  of 

house  at  Carthage,  loi,  188 
Seal  of  Mercury,  189 


Seal  of  Solomon,  478 

Sebka  er  Riana,  185  ;  erSedjoumi,  185 

Second  Punic  War,  beginning  of,  48  ; 
end  of,  55 

Security  of  life  and  property  in 
Turkish  Algiers,  297 

Selim  et  Teumi,  296 

Semites,  myths  of  the,  4  ;  magic,  370 

Semitic  and  Libyan  worship,  link 
between,  20 

Semitic  thought,  4 

Sempronius,  Consul,  49 

Seneca,  84 

Senegal,  25  i 

Sense  of  the  artistic  in  the  cottages 
of  England,  445 

Sentence  on  Carthage,  61,  73 

Sepulchres,  187 

Serfs,  felahin,  13,  109 

Sergius,  nephew  of  Solomon,  218,  219 

"  Seven  Champions,"  the,  468 

Severus,  Septimus,  91  ;  edict  of,  143  ; 
162  ;  a  Berber,  162  ;  his  dictum, 
162  ;  triumphal  arches  to,  162  ; 
burial  clubs,  165 

Seville  and  Granada,  the  Omeiade 
kingdoms  of,  244 

Sewing  machines,  384 

Sfax,  carried  by  assault  by  Roger  II., 
251 

Shaler,  Mr.,  291,  297 

Sheep,  feast  of,  and  the  Jewish  Pass- 
over, 397  ;  a  tame  sheep,  407  ; 
Tanith,  as  a  sheep,  3 1 

Sheiks,  crucifixion  of,  by  Cartha- 
ginians, 41 

Shepherds  and  the  Dolmens,  the,  308 

Shiah,  the  (Persian  sect),  and  the 
dedication  of  the  hand,  473 

Sicilian  war,  the,  45 

Sidi  Abd  el  Kader,  mosque  of,  293 

Sidi  Abd-er-Rahman  et  Tsalibi,  pat- 
ron saint  of  Algiers,  301 

Sidi  Abdullah's  sword,  87,  406 

Sidi  Abdurahmen,  364 

Sidi  Abidel  Gahriani,  267 

Sidi  Ali,  372,  407 

Sidi  bou  Said,  street  of,  185 

Sidi  Dede  WeU,  tomb  of  the  mara- 
bout, 293 

Sidi  Okba  (Okba  ibn  Nafi),  fierce 
Moslem  fighter,  82,  239,  240  ; 
founds  Kairouan,  240  ;  falls  in 
battle,  242  ;  the  site  of  Kairouan, 
267  ;  crusade  and  conquests,  IT},, 
374  ;  Sidi  Okba  and  the  Kahena, 
441  ;   his  tomb,  308 

Sidi  Okba,  its  boundaries,  386  ;  popu- 
lation of,  387  ;  road  from  Biskra, 
374 


INDEX 


501 


Sidi  Sahab,  240,  263,  267 

Sidi  Zazour,  tomb  of  the  marabout, 

Sidon,  Elissar,  Princess  of,  3,  185,  204 

Sidon,  Ethbaal  (Ithbaal),  King  of,  3 

Siga,  12 

Signs  and  symbols,  the  study  of,  470  ; 
in  the  Tebessan  monastery,  481  ; 
tombstones,  418 

Siliana,  the,  i  54 

Silver-gilt  ornaments  of  the  tombs, 
315.  316 

Simple  faith  of  ancient  cults,  460 

Singing  rock,  a,  356 

Site  of  Carthage,  7,  61  ;   of  Tunis,  6 

Sittius,  P.,  79,  80 

Sixth  Legion,  86 

Skulls,  18,  23  ;  skulls  as  indicating 
nationality,  18  ;  skulls  of  the  Dol- 
mens, 312,  313  ;   skeletons,  192 

Slabs  of  marble,  inscribed,  120,  121 

Sla-el-Kabira,  the  great  prayer  of  the 
Mohammedan  feast,  392,  396 

Slavery,  13,  17,  22,  72,  117,  122,  160, 
283  ;  Christian,  in  Algiers,  286  ; 
slaves  sail  ships,  297 

Smith,  Robertson,  458,  478 

Sofrites,  the,  at  Sidgilmassa  (Tafilah), 
245,  248 

Solomon,  Byzantine  general,  86,  95, 
126;  the  soothsayer,  215,  216; 
his  military  genius,  216  ;  plot  and 
mutiny  of  troops,  217,  218  ;  super- 
seded, 218  ;  restored  to  command, 
218  ;  falls  in  battle,  218  ;  224,  235, 
226,  231 

Sophonisba,  12,  52,  333,  334 

Sousse  (Hadrumetum),  63,  iii,  211, 
240  ;  taken  without  resistance  by 
Roger  II.,  251,  258,  462 

Spain  seizes  Oran,  Bougie,  and  Tri- 
poli, 255  ;   and  fortifies  Penon,  255 

Special  pilgrimages  and  sacred  trees, 
458-460 

Splendour  of  the  Roman  cities,  123 

Spragg,  Sir  Edward,  289 

Stained  windows,  262,  265 

Standing  army  of  Rome,  strength  of, 
86 

Standing  army  of  the  Turks  in 
Africa,  278 

Star  of  Hammon,  25,  33 

Statues,  25,  28,  33,  34,  81,  97,  99,  loi, 
190,  191,  192,  193,  204,  362 

Stelse,  Phoenician,  and  the  hand  sym- 
bol, 474  ;   the  palm  symbol,  481 

Stele,  votive,  24,  26,  31,  331,  474 

Stilicho,  197,  198 

Storm,  Roman  fleet  perishes  in  a,  41 

Story  of  the  wife  of  Hasdrubal,  72, 


191  ;  Aetius  and  Boniface,  202  ; 
Italian  carvings,  265  ;  Corsairs, 
287  ;  tombs,  308  ;  Sophonisba, 
334  ;  dog  of  the  Ziban,  416  ;  old 
marabout  of  Tunis,  421  ;  pigmies, 
422-424  ;    Kahena,  441 

Stotzas,  124,  153,  217,  218;  in  re- 
tirement in  Mauretania,  218  ;  re- 
appears, 219;  defeated  and  killed 
in  battle,  219 

Strabo,  74 

Streams,  a  valley  of,  320 

Sufetula  (Sbeitla),  237 

Suffete,  Punic  title  of,  31,  75 

Summary  of  events,  a  passing,  215 

Sumptuous  carpet,  a,  428 

Sun-dial,  a  dual,  259  ;  sun-dial  of 
primitive  design,  445 

"  Sunnis  "  and  "  Shi'ahs,"  236,  238, 
239  ;  the  Shi'ahs,  246,  248  ;  Sun- 
nite  orthodoxy,  251 

Sunset  in  the  Aures,  368 

Suzerainty  of  robbers,  the,  442 

Sweet-scented  herbs,  441 

Sychaeus,  murder  of,  3 

Symbols,  32,  33,  196,  226,  227  ;  of 
Tanith,  31,  32  ;  symbol  of  Astart, 
369  ;  speculations  upon  a  common 
symbol,  370  ;  mighty  symbols, 
409 

Sympathetic  magic,  460,  469 

Syphax,  King  of  the  Massesylians,  12, 

52,  53.  333.  335-  338 
Syrtes,  82  ;   country  of  the,  440 

Tabarka,  112 

Tablets,  votive,  13,  24,  33,  102,  323, 

329 

TtibulcB  execrationis,  133-137,  139, 
188,  189 

Tdbulce  lusoria,  98 

Tacfarinas,  215 

Tacitus,  171 

Talismans,  472,  476,  477 

Tambourine,  464 

Tanith,  the  supreme  divinity  of  Car- 
thage, 4;  sanctuary,  5;  18,  21  ; 
worship  of  Libyan  origin,  26,  432  ; 
later  identification  with  the  moon, 
28  ;  as  Juno,  28  ;  as  Ceres,  29  ; 
association  with  Ashtart,  30  ; 
"  Adon,"  31;  the  "Tanith,"  32, 
193  ;   the  priestess,  14,  29 

Tarquinius  Superbus,  the  Etruscan 
King,  129 

Tarrantum,  198 

Tattooing,  27 

Taxation,  84,  140,  205,  216,  235,  245, 
254,  277,  292,  355,  453 

Tebessa  (Theveste),   12,  86,  99,   102, 


502 


INDEX 


221,   222,   224;    description,   225; 

244,  481 
Tcbessa  monastery,  the,  406  ;    signs 

and  symbols,  481 
Teboursouk  (Thubursicum),  154,  222, 

427,  428,  429.  435,  467 
Teeming  population,  evidences  of  a, 

23 
Temples  :    Dido,    5  ;     Hammon   and 

Tanith,  9  ;   Eschmoun,  9,  72,  191  ; 

iEsculapius,    17,  92  ;    Tanith,  site 

of,  33  ;    Coelestis,  33  ;    Saturn,  33  ; 

Hammon,  pictured,  34  ;    later,  35  ; 

CcBlestis     at     Dougga,     92,     195  ; 

"  Genio    Colonias    Thamug,"    99  ; 

Timgad,      100;       Girgenti,      100; 

Dougga,    loi,    102,    155;     Saturn, 

146;    ruins  at  Ain  Tounga,    154; 

Saturn,    Dougga,    155;     Mercury, 

Dougga,    157;    Minerva,   Tebessa, 

226 
Tenes,  275 

Terebinth  tree,  a  wonderful,  329 
Terra-cotta  masks,  15 
TertuUian,  139,  142,  161  ;  brief  sketch, 

161  ;   the  apology,  162;   invective, 

164,    166;    brief    review   of,    167; 

245 
Thabudei,  378 
Thagaste  (Souk  Ahras),  224 
Thapsus,  62,  63,  75,  105  ;  Ras  Dinas, 

79;  140 
Theatre,    the,   91,  98,    147  ;   remains 

of,   147  ;   beauty  of  African,   149  ; 

typical,  149;   dress,  150,  190;  Ter- 
tuUian upon  theatre-goers,  165 
Theodora,  the  Empress,  132,  214 
Theodoret,  146 
Theodosius  quells  revolt  of   Firmus, 

801 
Theophanes,  236 
Thermae,  81,  90,  91,  99,  100,  113,  159  ; 

of  Antoninus,  194;   225,  327 
"  The  Trefoil,"  158 
Third  Punic  War,  beginning  of,  59  ; 

end  of,  Ti 
"  Thorn  in  the  heart  "  of  the  Alger- 

ines,  the,  273 
Thoroughness  of  Byzantine  work  in 

fortifications,  216,  221 
Thrasimene,  Lake,  49 
Thrasimund,  209 
Three    great    civilisations,   ruins    of, 

307 
Thysdrus  and  the  Kahenah,  140 
Tiberius  and  the  crucifixion  of  priests, 

24;  214 
Ticinus,  the,  49,  55 
Timgad   (Thamugadi),   built   by  the 

III.   Legio   Augusta,    87  ;   91  ;   its 


situation  and  remains,  93  ;  the 
town,  95-102  ;   destruction,  216 

Tissot,  64,  1 13 

Tlemcen,  position  under  the  Beni 
Zian  Zenata,  255  ;  Mihrab,  261  ; 
the  throne  and  Aroudj,  275  ;  the 
Spanish  Governor  of  Oran,  275  ; 
the  Turks,  276  ;  Abou  Tachefin, 
300 

Tolga,  a  caravan,  399  ;  the  marriage 
song,  401  ;  the  village  and  the 
Hotel  des  Touristes,  403;  "the 
season,"  403  ;  forest  of  palms, 
artesian  well,  the  divining  rod,  404  ; 
fountains  and  green  enclosures, 
405  ;  evidences  of  Roman  occupa- 
tion, 406  ;  heroes,  407  ;  pictures, 
the  Marabout  of  Tolga,  407  ;  the 
goats,  41 1  ;  silence  and  the  muezzin, 
412 

Tomb  of  Sidi  Okba,  inscription  in 
Cufic  characters,  381 

Tombs,  strange  construction  of,  122  ; 
tomb  of  Bishop  Palladius,  229  ;  a 
land  of  tombs,  308;  5«c  mausoleums 

Tom-toms,  392,  397,  432  ;  tom-toms 
and  the  pipe,  430 

Torghatten,  225 

Towers,  88,  222,  223,  225,  228, 
257,  260  ;  of  the  Djama  Kebira, 
268 

Town    or   province,    statues   of,    33, 

34 
Trajan,  83,  84,  86,  93,  97 
Treading  corn,  458 
Treasure  and  mystery,  392 
Treasure  returns  to  Carthage,  204 
Treasures  of  Jerusalem,  204 
Treaties,  observation  of,  270 
Trebia,  the,  49 

Trefoiled  chapel  (trichorum),  229 
Triads  of  the  gods,  20,   27,    28,   92, 

lOI 

Triangular  peninsula,  site  of  Carthage, 

8,  61 
Tribes  who  join  the  banner  of  Obeid 

Allah    and    his    lieutenant,    Abou 

Abd  Allah,  246 
Tribute,  11,  12,  255,  277,  447 
Tripoli,  revolt  of,  209  ;  214  ;  inroad 

of    the    Leucathians    from,    219  ; 

seized   by  Amr   ibn   el   Asi,   236 ; 

by  Roger    II.,    250;     natives    of, 

as  marauders,  440  ;  a  market  for 

slaves,  440  ;   the  robbers  of,  447 
Triremes,  galleys  of  the  Carthaginians, 

38 
Triumphal  arches,  89,  91,  92,  99,  124, 

125,  158,  162,  222,  226 
Troy  town,  3 


INDEX 


503 


'' Truceless  war"  (War  of  the  Mer- 
cenaries), the,  37,  44,  45 

TsaUba  tribe,  the,  301 

"  Tucca  "  (Thugga),  Libyan  village 
of,  "  The  Pastures,"  156 

Tucciana,  Cornelia  Valentina,  100 

"  TuUianum,  cold  bath  of  the,"  78 

Tumulus,  313 

Tunis,  Elissar,  3  ;  situation,  6  ;  gulf 
and  lake,  7  ;  Regulus,  40  ;  muti- 
neers, 44  ;  the  isthmus,  63  ;  road 
to  Dougga,  153;  a  view,  185; 
mountainous  range,  186  ;  crusade 
of  St.  Louis,  191  ;  stones  and 
pillars  from  Carthage,  243  ;  sub- 
mits to  Abd-el-Moumen,  254  ;  a 
capital  city,  255  ;  declares  itself 
independent  under  the  Hafside 
dynasty,  255  ;  the  Hafside  Sultan 
and  Aroudj,  273  ;  Spanish  admiral, 
Doria,  274 ;  Mulai  Hassan  de- 
throned, 276  ;  Charles  V.,  24  ; 
Blake,  288  ;   the  French,  451 

Tunisia,  12  ;  Roman  ruins,  221  ; 
convergence  of  great  roads,  224  ; 
outlines,  245  ;  Southern  Tunisia, 
247,  270 ;  the  Djebel  Zaghouan,  428  ; 
"  The  Great  Province,"  fertility  of, 
446 ;  Romans  and  Berbers,  mili- 
tary settlements,  446 

Tunnel-shaped  houses,  448,  452 

Tunnels,  106 

Turban  and  Ras  /i'o/ia, sacred  carvings 
of,  418  ;  reverence  shown  to  the 
turban,  461 

Turkish  town  in  Algiers,  290 

Turks,  the,  276,  277,  302,  303,  355, 
392,  407 

Tusca,  57 

Two  centuries  of  prosperity  in  Africa, 
84 

Types  of  mosques  in  North  Africa, 
three  different,  300 


Underground  dwellings  of  the  Mat- 
matas,  442  ;  house  of  the  Cheikh 
of  the  village,  442  ;  a  patriarchal 
scene,  443  ;  his  little  daughter,  443 

Urhem  venalem,  "jj 

Ursacius,  Proconsul,  and  the  Circum- 
celliones,  178 

Utica  (Outich,  the  Old  City),  6  ; 
Gulf  of,  and  the  Medjerda,  7  ;  the 
Sebka  er  Riana,  7  ;  Scipio  and 
Masinissa,  53  ;  Utica  and  Carthage, 
59  ;  landing  of  the  consuls,  and  the 
Gerusia  of  Carthage,  60  ;  harbour, 
artificial,  63  ;  seat  of  Roman 
government,   74 ;    80  ;     massacres. 


Massa    Candida,    172  ;     John    the 
Patrician,  243 

Vada,  Cape,  21 1 

Valentinian  IIL,  198-203 

Valerian,  171  ;  edict  of  persecution, 
171  ;   another  edict,  172 

Value  of  water,  405 

Vandals,  the,  94,  190,  197  ;  first 
traces  of,  197  ;  scourge  of  the 
Mediterranean,  203 ;  sway  in 
North  Africa,  204  ;  "  The  King- 
dom of,"  207;  208,  210;  end  of 
rule  in  Africa,  213;  219,  221,  234, 
446 

Varro,  Terentius,  Consul,  50 

Varus,  Attius,  79 

Vegetable  dyes,  451 

Venture  de  Paradis,  291,  295 

Venus,  statue  of,  191 

Vergil,  5,  7,  28,  83 

Vernet,  Horace,  334 

Vespasian,  126 

Vessels,  Algerian,  285 

Vessels  of  the  Barbary  Corsairs,  280 

Vestigia  nulla  retrorsum,  74 

Veterans,  the,  form  colonies,  84 

Victories,  four  great  winged,  345  ; 
colossal  victory,  192 

Vicus  Augusti,  257 

Villa  of  Hadrian,  109  ;  of  Cyprian, 
186 

Village  of  sand,  a,  378 

Villages  of  the  Ziban,  375,  385,  386, 
403.  415.  463 

Villas,  French,  290 

Vine,  sacred  ornament,  25,  196  ;  in 
mosaics,  159 

Vischer,  Mons.  Hanns,  356 

•'  Voices,"  364 

Votive  offerings,  266,  302,  381,  382, 

459 
Vulture  goddesses,  28,  30 

Walls  of  Carthage,  62-64  ;  Tebessa, 
225  ;    Kairouan,  257 

Wars  of  the  Vandals,  197,  198,  201, 
202-204 

Watering-places  of  Rades,  185  ;  Ham- 
mam  Lif,  185;  La  Marsa,  186; 
Hammam  Meskoutine,  329 

Water  rate,  107 

Water  supply,  the  difficulty  in 
Northern  Africa,  104  ;  of  Car- 
thage, 106  ;  at  El  Djem,  107  ; 
Tolga,  artesian  well,  404 

Weaver's  shuttle  as  idiogram,  27 

Weaving,  native  schools  of,  451 

Wells    of    Medinine,    456  ;     drawing 


504 


INDEX 


water,  456  ;  Sahara,  464  ;  artesian 

well,  404 
Westermarck,  Prof.,  470,  473 
White  of  the  mosques,  the,  413 
Wiedemann,  21,  28 
Wild  animals  of  North  Africa,  105 
Wild  extravagances  of  fanatics,  178 
Wild  flowers   a  marvel  of  beauty  in 

the  stony  wilderness,  457 
Wild  flowers  of  many  colours,  417 
Wild  thyme  and  asphodel,  1 86 
Winds,  names  of  the,  157 
Winter,  a  terrible,  71 
Women,     position     of,     in     Turkish 

Algiers,  297 
Words  of  challenge,  Sidi  Okba's,  380 
Worship,  Arian  conceptions  of,  35 


Xanthippus  and  Regulus,  41 
Ximenes,  272 


Yacub,  273 

Yezed,  245 

Youssof  ibn  Tachefin  and  the  Almo- 

ravides.   Lords  of  Spain   and   the 

Maghreb,  251,  252 

Zagharit,  the,  a  weird  cry  of 
Libyan  origin,  431,  432,  467  ;  an 
answering  cry,  435 

Zaghouan,  wild  crags  of  the  Djebel, 
106,  156,  187,  428 

Zama,  49,  55,  60 

Zano,  211,  212  ;   head  of,  213 

Zaouia,  262, 263, 267, 301, 407,  410, 459 

Zenetes,  the,  243,  247,  251 

Ziadet  Allah,  259 

Ziban,  the,  87,  320,  373,  388  ;  the 
name,  373,  399,  467  ;  Roman  occu- 
pation of,  406,  463 

Ziri  ibn  Atia,  248 

Zlass,  suburb  of  Kairouan,  257,  268 


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